Healthy Schools Campaign

USDA Report Highlights Need for School Food Funding

by Rochelle Davis, HSC Founding Executive Director

For almost seventy years, the federal government has been providing school meals to low-income students.  Last month, the USDA released a report [pdf] examining the cost to schools of providing a school meal to students. They found that the federal programs only paid 82 percent of the full cost of the meals during the 2005-2006 school year.   

This brings up several important points. First, this is particularly burdensome for school districts, such as Chicago, where the vast majority of students participate in the federal school food programs.  The district is not able to offset this deficit with revenues from other students paying for school meals.  Second, this study was completed for the 2005-2006 school year—before the steady increase in food prices. 

Next year Congress will be taking up the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, which includes the school food program. I hope that our political leaders will take note of this study and provide school districts with the funding that they need to provide students with healthy school meals.

Celebrate School Nurse Day

Today we have a guest blog from Donna Fishman, HSC’s School Nurse Program Director

Today, May 7, 2008, is School Nurse Day.  I would like to take the opportunity to send best wishes to all the school nurses making a difference for the health of their students.  I especially would like to thank the school nurses that have and are currently participating in our School Nurse Leadership training.  We at HSC are constantly amazed by the intelligence, commitment, energy and wisdom of the school nurses we meet in our trainings—not to mention the phenomenal school nurse educators and leaders that comprise our School Nurse Advisory Committee.  I wish everyone knew how important school nurses are to the health and education of our children.

I hope the sun shines everywhere over school nurses today, and that you enjoy the day!

California Assembly Considers Green Clean Schools Legislation

by Claris Olson, HSC Environmental Health Manager

California may be the next state to bring green cleaning to schools, following the lead of New York and Illinois. In April, the Green Schools: Environmentally Sensitive Cleaners act (Assembly Bill 2808) was approved by the education subcommittee.  It will now be going through appropriations and then to the full assembly.  You can track this bill on the California Legislative Information site. 

School Nurses Making a Difference through Advocacy

Today we have a guest blog from Linda Gibbons, Director of the School Nurse Certification Program National-Louis University and Illinois Director to the National Association of School Nurses

WOW!

Thanks to the sponsorship and support of the Healthy Schools Campaign, 40 Illinois school nurses traveled to Springfield and spent the day making a difference and advocating for our students and the need for professional school nursing support. 

 
We were able to present our petition for a State School Nurse Consultant at the Illinois State Board of Education meeting with more than 20 nurses present.  Mark Bishop (of Healthy Schools Campaign), Linda Gibbons (of the Illinois Association of School Nurses) and Vyki Jackson (the Illinois School Nurse consultant) presented compelling testimony about the need for coordination at the state level within the Board of Education. The Board members were very supportive of our position, but cited the need for funds and the ability to add positions within the agency.

It was a real "high" for all of us!

Then, we convened with the entire group of school nurse advocates at IEA headquarters for some briefing and to receive materials to bring to the Capitol.  At the Capitol, we were generally well received by both our representatives and senators, and we took commitments that they would vote to support school health and school nursing on a number of specific bills. 

When we reconvened, it was with a group of school nurses who were feeling very empowered to make a difference and to continue the contact with our legislators next week when they are back in their home districts.

It was an exciting day that we hope to make an annual event.

Many thanks to Healthy Schools Campaign for the organization, lunch and support of this important endeavor.

School Nurses left excited about what we can do and energized to really make a difference through legislative advocacy.

Richard Simmons: Amend NCLB to Encourage Physical Education

by Rochelle Davis, HSC Founding Executive Director

Fitness Guru Richard Simmons has been hitting the talk shows in a build-up to support American Heart Association’s national lobby days to promote the FIT Kids Act.

As we’ve discussed in previous blogs, one of the unintended and dangerous consequences of No Child Left Behind has been a dramatic decrease in physical education and the time that children have to be physically active at school.  The FIT Kids Act would enable schools to prioritize PE along with other subjects.

Take a look at this clip from MyFox New York where Simmons says that the intent of NCLB was to make sure our children have a well-rounded education, but the result is that they are now “well-rounded” themselves. Click here to learn more about the FIT Kids Act.

Soaring Foods Costs and School Food

by Rochelle Davis, HSC Founding Executive Director

As most of us have noticed in our weekly trip to the grocery store, food prices have been increasing.  While economists debate the reasons for these increases (rising transportation and energy costs, increased demand to use corn for fuel), a recent article in the Washington Post discussed the impact of higher food prices on schools’ ability to offer healthy lunches. 

Schools receive $2.47 per lunch served - this must cover food, labor and other related costs – which is only a 3 percent increase over last year’s funding, although prices have increased much, much more than three percent. (Milk prices went up 17 percent, bread prices went up 12 percent). 

Next year, Congress will be considering the Reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, which includes the school food program.  It will be important for them to make sure that schools have the appropriate resources to offer students a healthy meal.

Connecting the Issues of Food and Global Climate Change

by Rochelle Davis, HSC Founding Executive Director

Anna Lappe  (a bestselling author and advocate for sustainability and food justice) has just launched a new website on the connection between food and global climate change as she researches a new book, “Eat the Sky: Food, Farming and Climate Change.” 

Given Healthy Schools Campaign’s dual priorities on environmental issues and food and fitness, it is interesting to see how these two issue become connected. 

For us, the connection has been made around our work on healthy and high performing school construction.  For those of you familiar with the term “healthy and high performing,” you know that “healthy” generally refers to  healthy indoor air and “high performing” refers to energy efficiency.  The guidance document that we worked on with more than 40 stakeholders here in Illinois integrates a broader notion of health by incorporating recommendations that include kitchen facilities that can produce healthy food.   

Anna Lappe makes the connection between our two program areas even stronger when she connects food production and distribution to climate change.  We will look forward to reading her book.

Updates & Resources from the Green Schools Caucus

by Rochelle Davis, HSC Founding Executive Director

Last Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representative’s Green Schools Caucus met to continue the discussion of the benefits of green school construction.  In addition to saving money on energy costs, green schools can support student learning and promote health among everyone who uses the building. 

I was really looking forward to hearing from Dr. Richard Abernathy, a Superintendent from Arkansas who built the first green schools in that state, and from Franklin Brown of the Ohio Department of Education, who spoke about Ohio’s commitment to green school construction.  Unfortunately, I was one of the many travelers flying on American Airlines who did not make it to my destination last week.   

I will try to attend the next meeting and, for now, I will stay in touch through the Green Schools Caucus website – it’s a great resource for everyone interested in the issues surrounding green schools.

"Friends Make the Party Fun:" Children Speak up for Wellness

Today we have a guest blog from HSC Board Member Rob Rogers. Rob is the Vice President of School Health Corporation, the nation’s leading provider of medical supplies and equipment to schools and sports teams, a family business he runs with his wife Susan. Rob and Susan’s children attend Marion Jordan school, the school featured in this blog.

What is it that motivates school leaders to adopt meaningful wellness policies?

Even before the 2006 requirement [pdf] that school districts have wellness policies in place to address nutrition education, physical education and school food, some schools were adopting policies regarding classroom snacks and food for celebrations. In some cases, the impetus came from students. 

When the principal of Marion Jordan school in Illinois received a letter signed by hundreds of students, she was determined to see change in her school.

February 22, 2005

Dear Mrs. Petersen:

We would like to see some things changed at Marion Jordan School.  We especially want to see the way parties are done changed.  Here are the reasons we want things changed.

1. We don’t like having our friends have to leave the class when it is time for a party.  Some of the students at Marion Jordan have bad allergies and they can’t even be around some of the food that the parents bring in.  The room moms usually know about the food that can’t be brought in, but some of the other parents still send in food that the kids are allergic to.  Kids have to be careful of what is in the room instead of just having fun. 
2. Even when the food is not in the room, the rest of the kids know who the kids are that have the allergies and they say things like “We can’t have pizza because of you.”  You and the teachers have talked to these kids and they don’t say it anymore, but the kids with the allergies still feel bad.
3. The teachers talk to us about acceptance, compassion, and respect for other peoples differences, but doesn’t this point out their differences.  This makes them feel even more different.  We have learned that sometimes you can give up small things (sacrifice) to make things better for other people.
4. We have kids who are gaining too much weight because we have too many treats at school and then they also go home and have snacks after school.  Teachers talk to us about healthy diets, exercise, and the food pyramid.  The food we have at parties is what we shouldn’t be eating.
5. When we do have food in the room we just sit at our desks and eat.  That isn’t much fun.

You always say if we want things changed it is a good idea to have a few suggestions so here are our suggestions.

1. Have games and fun things to do at parties.
2. Ask us what we want to do at the party.
3. Make sure ALL students can have fun and be at the party.

We want to end by saying:  We don’t need food to have fun.  Being with our friends is what makes a party fun.

There are many good reasons to enact wellness policies at school, and many good reasons to create a “culture of wellness” where children learn about the importance of healthy eating and active lifestyles. But perhaps the most important reason is also the most simple: children’s well-being.

With all the different voices calling for healthy changes at school, it’s refreshing to hear from the children whose health and quality of life are affected so directly.

New Research Shows Impact of Healthy Diet on Academic Performance

by Rochelle Davis, HSC Founding Executive Director

It is always nice to see when scientific studies document what common sense and mother’s experience tells us.  A new study in the Journal of School Health shows that children with healthy diets perform better in school than children with unhealthy diets. 

In this study, researchers surveyed around 5,000 Canadian fifth-graders and their parents. They found that students with an increased fruit and vegetable intake and less caloric  intake from fat were less likely to fail a literacy assessment.

“We demonstrated that above and beyond socioeconomic factors, diet quality is important to academic performance,” the authors concluded. “These findings support the broader implementation and investment in effective school nutrition programs that have the potential to improve student’s diet quality, academic performance, and, over the long term, their health.” 

With these research results in hand, we hope that policymakers and school administrators will incorporate a focus on the importance of good nutrition into their decision-making.