For the first time in CHS history, CHS has only one female PE teacher: Coach Rosalinda Castillo. With all of the responsibility of the girls’ locker room resting on Castillo’s shoulders, extra stress for Brenda Moore (the beloved CHS proctor), and the safety of the girls in the locker room in question, is it time for CHS to step up and hire more help for the girls’ locker room?

With the recent letting go of CHS’s second female PE teacher, Coach Adams, this adjustment has provided many newfound responsibilities for staff, faculty, and students of CHS. Most importantly, this change has brought sexism in the physical education profession into the discussion. With the fairly recent hiring of a male PE teacher at CHS, Coach Quintana, female PE teachers are now outnumbered five to one. This may be perceived as sexist because the male PE teachers get additional, unnecessary help in the locker rooms; whereas the women do not get the help desperately needed in the locker rooms.

“I absolutely believe the industry is sexist, and it starts right here,” Moore said. “Just look at us, we have five male teachers to the one female. I believe that happens because when you’re dealing with a sexist society, that’s who they hire. There are a lot of female PE teachers out there trying to find jobs, while many men are being hired.”

Along with this, Coach Castillo has said that CHS has had opportunities in the past to hire female PE teachers on campus, and has failed to balance the ratio between male and female PE teachers on campus. Therefore, it came with no surprise to Moore and Castillo that CHS has hired yet another male PE teacher.

Moving past the overall whispers of sexism throughout the overarching physical education profession, the fact remains that having only one female PE teacher at CHS puts the safety and well-being of the students, staff, and faculty at risk.

“In my professional opinion, me being the only female PE teacher on campus weakens the students’ safety and therefore impacts the student body in ways that are unsettling,” Castillo said. “We absolutely need another female PE teacher to help balance and provide quality education for all students.”

Along with this, there are many challenges that people on CHS’s campus face that are not commonly talked about; these challenges have come with the presence of only one female PE teacher on campus.

CHS needs more help in locker rooms, as student athletes must change in overcrowded bathrooms after school; a sea of students may only ask either Castillo or Moore for help, and having only one female PE teacher on campus takes away from Moore’s ability to do her job as a school security officer.

“The girls can’t come in and change for sports anymore, which happened everyday when we had a locker room attendant,” Moore said. “It’s a safety issue, because if something happens, Castillo is the only one there. And, lastly, I have to cover two periods, so it’s taking me out of my job as a proctor to come down and act as the locker room attendant.”

This problem has been further compounded by the current lack of a locker room attendant, a paid position dedicated to managing the locker rooms that used to exist at CHS. However, CHS has terminated that position as a whole, for reasons unknown to the public. Many see this termination as an attack on the safety of the locker rooms at CHS, as help is needed to control the loud, rambunctious locker rooms — where thievery and periodic fights arise.

“Bringing this position back is absolutely necessary, especially with only one female teacher currently at CHS,” Coach Ryan Campuzano, a male PE teacher said. “PE teachers are not trained on how to manage locker rooms — they are trained in teaching youth about physical education. Bringing back this position is the first way to alleviate any issues that could have all been solved through more help in the locker rooms.”

The current imbalance of female to male physical educators is putting the safety of CHS at risk as well as putting abnormal responsibilities upon the backs of Castillo and Moore. Whether CHS administration hears this cry for help or not, the facts and complaints are there. This now begs the question, will extra help be provided to CHS?