HALF-EMPTY: Mark Paul, a veteran P.E. teacher at Lincoln High, says fewer students take P.E. at school because they can “buy” their credit. IMAGE: Darryl James

In public schools in wealthier neighborhoods, graduating and getting into a good college has long been a competitive sport.

In Portland, though, there’s a new, surprising twist.

WW has learned that more than 100 high-school students in Portland Public Schools will opt out of their state-required physical-education classes this year. Instead, many of them will earn their P.E. credits from an alternative operation called Quest Schools, based in Tigard.

For some, it’s an opportunity to free up school time to take advanced academic courses. For others, it’s “credit for cash,” says David Bailey, a social-studies teacher at Lincoln High for 41 years. In both cases, it’s controversial.

To sign up, students pay $150 for the year and agree to spend 130 hours engaging in physical activities. Quest says it keeps a close eye on students by requiring them to log their time and seek signatures on their logs from parents and coaches. But some teachers and students say that’s a farce. “It’s a major scam,” says Mark Paul, a 29-year veteran P.E. teacher at Lincoln High School. “They’re buying their credits.”

Whether or not that’s true, the students are definitely helping save money for Portland Public Schools’ elected officials, who this July awarded Quest a new $515,340 annual contract. That contract, for the 2008-2009 school year, pays for a separate program offered by Quest, one that serves 80 “at-risk” students taking courses in English, history, math and science at the Tigard alternative school.

In essence, the P.E. program helps to subsidize the cost of those courses, says Bill Butterfield, Quest’s director. And Quest passes those savings to PPS. Also, the school district has to pay for fewer P.E. teachers. “Really, the district is getting a good deal,” Butterfield says.

High-school students at Lincoln, Cleveland, Wilson and Grant in Portland are all using the program, Butterfield adds. But Quest is notorious around Lincoln.

“The way it’s structured it’s easy for kids to get their P.E. credit and not complete all of the requirements,” says 18-year-old Taylor Soper, a 2008 graduate of Lincoln.

Bailey, the veteran social-studies teacher, goes further. “Kids know how to work the system, and they’re working the system,” he says.

In fact, more than half of Lincoln’s class of 2011 last year opted not to take P.E. in the ninth grade, the year students typically get that credit out of the way, says Paul, the veteran P.E. teacher. He suspects many of them were headed eventually for Quest. “The numbers have grown every year,” Paul says.

It’s clear why he’s angry. Two years ago, Lincoln had two P.E. teachers offering nine periods of the class. Last year, however, the school offered just four periods. During the same time, freshman enrollment dropped at a much lower rate, by only about 30 kids. “We understand the teacher’s union doesn’t like this program,” Butterfield says.

For some, Quest is an honest avenue.

Lincoln, which has an acclaimed International Baccalaureate program, offers students only six classes per day, meaning they can earn only six credits a year. Currently Portland Public Schools students earn 24 credits to graduate with a regular Oregon diploma. But that’s about to increase to 25.

As a result, a number of students in Portland are finding they have to take classes outside of school to meet all of their graduation requirements, especially if they also hope to earn an I.B. diploma. “It’s a program that we offer that meets the needs of a lot of students,” Butterfield says.

Halle Chapman, a junior at Lincoln who is the daughter of Principal Peyton Chapman, took P.E. through Quest so she could take both French and Spanish her freshman year. She completed her 130 hours in part by participating in club lacrosse. “It’s not that hard,” Halle Chapman says. “It’s just a lot of rules.”

Her mother notes that Quest is a legally accredited program. As it stands now, it’s not as though Lincoln could decline to accept Quest’s credits, she says. But she walks a careful line defending the program.

“We don’t recommend students take P.E. off-campus, but that’s the course they tend to take,” Peyton Chapman says. “I think some of our families are more strict than you think. They have high expectations for their children and they generally don’t encourage slacking.”

But Quest’s Butterfield does acknowledge that might not be the case for everyone and that some students might not complete all of the program’s requirements, even if their parents say they did. “I suppose they could do that, as they could cheat in any other class,” Butterfield says. “But most of these kids are overachievers. They’re freeing up classes for those advanced courses.”

Still, some teachers aren’t convinced this is a good thing. “Come on,” says Bailey. “They’re going on the basis of what the parent says the kid did. If we can do this for P.E., we can do it for any program.”

CORRECTION: The student Halle Chapman was misidentified in the original story. WW regrets the error.