Running laps and doing sit ups is really just not interesting enough to keep high schoolers coming back to gym class, so the New Design High School on the Lower East Side has offered students an easier way to earn gym credit—sell soda and popcorn to filmgoers! For every Friday or Saturday night students volunteer at the concessions stands at the Rooftop Films festival, of which New Design is one of 10 venues, they can earn up to seven hours of gym credit! Cue Bloomberg's ban of film festivals in 3...2...1...
The public school's gym teacher Palmer Taylor, who must be fearing for his job, told the Daily News, "Selling drinks and popcorn at a movie is not physical education. It's just not right. The kids aren't getting enough phys-ed." However, the student's don't seem to upset. Senior Ryan Pacheco said, "We can't get all these hours of phys-ed in during the school day. The school knows that so this is how they deal with it. We stay in shape in other ways."
According to this calorie calculator, one hour of "light Bakery work," which sounds close enough to what these kids are doing, burns 170 calories. "General aerobics" burns 442 calories in the same amount of time. Department of Education spokesman Danny Kanner said, "Obviously, students should not get physical education credits for volunteering at a film festival, but we'll wait until the conclusion of any investigation to pass judgment."
