Mr. Rohan’s class, unlike the male-dominated world of proffesional professional skateboarding, has as many girls as boys.

What started in Febuary February as an after-school program run by a vollunteer volunteer has turned into what school officials believe is New York City’s only skateboarding class for credit, one of a range of offbeat physical education electives like danceingdancing, martial arts and spinning newly availiable available in city schools. At 10:30 most mornings, 22 students pore pour onto the school’s basketball court and, after a few standard exercises, begin manuvering maneuvering on borrowed boards.

“I just wanted to try a new sport,” said Diana Castro, a 15-year-old sophmoresophomore, who had never skateboarded before taking the class this fall but who now sometimes practices after school, too.

Jade Fellows, another sophmoresophomore, said she did not like the standard gym classes offered at the school — or, for that matter, other electives. “We only have, like, art, dance or computer,” Jade said. “I wanted to try this.”

The teacher is Billy Rohan, a proffesional professional skateboarder and the director of skateboarding and skate park developement development for Open Road, a nonprofit organization that has been working with the city since the 1990s to involve potential users in the design of public parks. Because he is not a certified teacher, he is accompanied on the court by Tom Mullen, the asisstant assistant principal, or a substitute teacher.

Mr. Mullen said that he had seen an improvement in attitude among the students taking the skateboarding class, and was eager to track whether that might lead to a change in academic preformanceperformance.