NORTH ATTLEBORO - In a move that will leave some students jumping for joy and others hopping mad, a proposal to drop the number of physical education classes needed to graduate high school is under consideration by the school department.

Ninth- and 10th-grade students currently take physical education classes five days a week. The proposal would shave two days off the requirement - so students would be taking gym classes three days a week.

Upperclassmen currently take physical education classes two days a week, which will not change under the proposal. Students at all grade levels will still be required to take one semester of physical education in each school year.

Superintendent Rick Smith said the district believes physical education courses are an important component of the curriculum and that the move is purely a staffing problem.

The department laid off about 14 teachers to deal with tight budget circumstances, including one of the high school's four physical education teachers at the end of the last school year. "We lost a physical education teacher and this is a staffing issue," Smith said. "We will still be within the state requirements."

Smith said the proposal has not yet been discussed by the school committee, but will be presented to its curriculum and policy subcommittee this week.

The issue is expected to be brought before the full school committee at its Aug. 6 meeting.

While state law requires that physical education be taught at all grade levels, it does not impose a requirement for the number of hours. That is left up to local districts to decide.

However, that could change as the result of a bill pending before the state Legislature. If approved in its current wording, the bill would set specific requirements for physical education courses of no less than 150 minutes per week - or 30 minutes per day - at the elementary school level and no less than 225 minutes per week - or 45 minutes per day - at the high school level.

With that requirement for all students at the high school level, the district's physical education staffing would essentially have to double to handle all of the classes.

While not commenting specifically on North Attleboro's proposal Bill Riley, business manager for the Massachusetts Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance said physical education classes are important, especially now with concerns about childhood obesity.

"I grew up in the '60s, and we were always playing outside," Riley said. "We didn't have the Internet and DVDs. We had three television channels.

"Now, you don't see children playing out on the fields unless it's an adult supervised activity. Kids just aren't as active."

In addition, Riley said that studies have shown that students who get regular exercise perform better on their schoolwork. "Because of the emphasis on standardized testing - and its not just in Massachusetts, it's all across the country with No Child Left Behind - there is a lot of focus on test scores," he said. "Several years ago, the California teachers' association did a study and found students who had more physical education classes showed improved scores on standardized tests.

"It's important not to get so focused on the academic subjects that you forget the benefits of physical education."