Canoes, mountain bikes, heart monitors and equipment for a cardio-fitness lab are just a few things Dave Schmidt would like to buy with a $456,000 federal grant North Allegheny's physical education department received last month.

"Think of how you were taught physical education," said Mr. Schmidt, chairman of the district's physical education department. "That's not us."

The district has taken a non-traditional approach to teaching physical education for at least six years, so Mr. Schmidt's wish list existed even before his department received the U.S. Department of Education's Carol M. White Physical Education grant.

Nearly 100 grants ranging from $65,000 to $575,000 were awarded across the country to school districts and other educational and community-based agencies, according to the U.S. Department of Education's Web site.

North Allegheny and United Community Services of Lawrence County Inc., based in New Castle, were the only recipients in Pennsylvania.

Mr. Schmidt said the grant money will help his department expand and improve upon an established phys ed curriculum that focuses on getting students active and keeping them interested in physical fitness for the rest of their lives.

"It's not just about exercise," Mr. Schmidt said. "We want the students to have fun."

Rather than grading students on how many push-ups they can do or how long it takes them to run a mile, North Allegheny gives students heart monitors so they can watch and work to maintain their maximum heart rate during activities.

Mr. Schmidt said this eliminates the old-school gym class approach that erroneously assumes all students are created equal.

For example, just before using heart monitors for the first time, Mr. Schmidt said he had a group of boys on the track. He sent them around and one boy came in with no problem, running easily.

"I was clapping and telling him what a great job he did," Mr. Schmidt said.

He also encouraged another boy who was having trouble by telling him he could do better.

When he put heart monitors on those same boys, it turned out the boy who had gotten nothing but positive attention was running at about 60 percent of his maximum heart rate.

The other boy's heart rate, the one Mr. Schmidt thought he was encouraging to do better, was at 90 percent of his maximum.

"He was giving me his best and I didn't know it," Mr. Schmidt said.

In addition to using heart monitors, the district already includes swimming, canoeing, kayaking, tennis, golf, wall climbing, orienteering, dance and martial arts in its physical education curriculum.

The grant money will help the district buy more equipment and build that cardio-fitness lab at the high school.

Mr. Schmidt said he'd love to see students take after-school biking or rowing field trips. A trailer and hitch would be a big help in kick-starting that dream, he said.

A portion of the grant is also earmarked for more comprehensive in-house staff training that will include topics like nutrition and goal setting.

The money will also allow the district to expand its partnership with Slippery Rock University's physical education department.

Previously, 30 to 40 Slippery Rock students would come to North Allegheny each year to observe how physical education courses were taught, Mr. Schmidt said.

Now, the district and the university can increase that number to include all undergraduate physical education majors, some 400 in all, he added.

Mr. Schmidt said his department could also use some of the money to finish walking and biking trails on school land and perhaps help pay for materials Eagle Scouts might need to complete projects on district property.

Timothy Steinhauer, North Allegheny's assistant superintendent for secondary education and curriculum, said the grant came at just the right time.

In the spring, the phys ed department began a year-long curriculum review.

Next year, a committee will make recommendations on curriculum changes to the school board.

As the department rethinks how it teaches physical education, it can build on the things officials already know are working.

"The timing just couldn't have been better," Dr. Steinhauer said.

Mr. Schmidt called the coincidence of the grant award and curriculum review a "perfect storm" that will allow his department to take the lead in changing the way physical education is taught.

"Physical education shouldn't be something you look back on with dread," he said. "We are trying to take away all the roadblocks and show that everybody can reach a level of physical fitness."