While the first day of school is often full of adjustments, senior Nour Abdelmonem, an Early Bird gym student, said she was surprised at the start of this year when Early Bird students were told they could no longer miss class for their clubs.

According to Bob Pieper, physical education instructional supervisor, Early Bird gym teachers have previously allowed students to leave class for morning club meetings as requested without requiring a makeup for the class. However, when gym teacher Michael English took over the class last year, he noticed an “unacceptable number” of students requesting to leave class for their clubs.

Last year, English began working with Pieper to resolve this issue.

“We need to still be flexible and work with the kids, but they can’t just not make it up or leave whenever they want,” Pieper said.

On the first day of class, English reminded students of the policy regarding physical education and made it clear that it was being enforced this year. He was unable to warn students of the new enforcement of the policy prior to the start of class because neither he nor Pieper saw the students until the first day of school, Pieper said.

“The policy for all P.E. has always been that if you have an excused absence, you can make it up within ten days,” said Pieper. “Now, with Early Bird, we understand and we appreciate the importance of athletics and activities in students lives in high school, so we’ve been flexible. But now it seems like 80 percent of clubs are meeting in the morning, [so] we can’t let everyone go, or we won’t have a class.”

English and Pieper both remind students that they must look at physical education as if it were any other class.

“We’re looking at the integrity of the program,” said English. “If you sign up for a class, you need to attend the class.”

Abdelmonem, who is enrolled in Early Bird gym for the first time this semester, acknowledges that gym should be respected just as much as any other class would be.

“It’s understandable to see the policy change, but at the same time, they should’ve told us earlier,” Abdelmonem said.

As the co-president of Global Citizens Club, which meets on Thursday mornings, this situation has left her in a bind.

Abdelmonem and the entire Global Citizens board, who are all enrolled in Early Bird gym this semester, are having a difficult time maintaining control over the club, she said. Although board members Molly Karr and Matt Bondy were able to waiver out of gym for Varsity sports, the rest of the board takes turns attending the meetings.

Abdelmonem feels the success of the club is in question at this point.

“If you don’t have the [whole] board there, what does it say about the club?” said Abdelmonem. “People start to question the legitimacy of the club, which I think is unfortunate.”

Abdelmonem reached out to her club sponsor, Scott Williams, in hope of a solution. Williams and the Global Citizens Club Board have looked into finding other meeting times for the club, but have so far been unsuccessful in finding an appropriate time.

Williams said the situation has “clearly handicapped” the club’s success in terms of management and attendance. However, he wants students in this bind to realize that Early Bird was created for them so they could still be the ambitious kids that they are.