Principal Merrianne Dyer ended up creating a "creative movement" class, which began this school year.

"They get a cardiovascular workout every day they're in there," she said.

Before this year, students took P.E. as part of a 45-day rotation with four other classes, instrumental music, health, music and art.

Basically, they took each class nine days out of every 45 days, or 36 days in a 180-day school year.

Now, students are exercising, or otherwise moving around, for 72 days in a school year.

The two classes operate together.

Students receive the state requirements for physical education but with a unique twist.

For example, this week P.E. teacher Sam Henry and creative movement teacher Natalie S. McGarvey are teaching students how to jump rope.

But they're instructing them to come up with group routines combining technique and rhythm.

"Overall, the (collaboration) is working pretty well," said Henry, who is in his sixth year as Fair Street's P.E. teacher. "We're feeling our way as we go."

He credited McGarvey for jazzing up the instruction.

"She worked day camps here for five years, so she knows these kids and she knows how to work with kids," he said.

McGarvey, a 2002 graduate of the State University of West Georgia in Carrollton, learned about the opening as she applied fruitlessly for P.E. jobs last year in Gainesville City Schools and the Hall County School System.

Dyer said she's a perfect fit, with her previous experience at Fair Street.

McGarvey said she strives to find "anything that keeps the students moving and that they enjoy. I try to create things that they like."

She and Henry pumped in music, including the Backstreet Boys, to energize students during an exercise last week.

The teachers also use games and creative dance to engage students.

"We try not to repeat anything," said McGarvey, a West Hall High graduate.

Dyer sees the class as just another opportunity to stress the importance of physical health.

"A lot of kids in this country are overweight and don't get enough exercise. Here they're moving every day," she said. "We all need it."