For some districts, wellness is a key part of the education program

At a national summit on prevention in October, HHS Secretary Michael O. Leavitt said the guidelines will be issued in late 2008.

Leavitt underscored the importance of shifting from a treatment-focused society to one that values prevention-based care and emphasized the four pillars of the healthier U.S. initiative: physical activity, good diet, healthy choices, and preventive screening.

Two school districts, the Alhambra (Calif.) Unified School District and the Washoe County school district in Reno, Nev., were honored at the summit for their innovative efforts in prevention.

Alhambra’s Nutrition Network, which also received the California School Boards Association’s 2005 Golden Bell Award, is a collaborative effort among administrators, teachers, students, food services, parents, and community partners to provide students and adults with opportunities to make healthy eating choices and increase physical activity.

The district invites parents to participate in special events to learn how to incorporate good nutrition into their daily routines and to prepare healthy, delicious meals. Parent education classes and camps for children focusing on nutrition are offered during the summer and throughout the year.

Alhambra schools have nutrition advisory councils that offer leadership opportunities to students while teaching them about nutrition and physical activity. The student council members participate in taste testing as school cafeterias introduce new food items and help teach their classmates about healthy lifestyles.

The Harvest of the Month program delivers new fruits and vegetables to classrooms for students to try in an effort to encourage healthy eating choices.

Students learn about the food-growing process by working in school-based gardens. They learn how the agriculture industry contributes to a healthy, affordable, diverse food supply and are introduced to a variety of career options.

The Cooking in the Classroom program helps students experience hands-on preparation of healthy snacks.

At Alhambra’s Taste of California event, some 1,200 fourth-graders celebrated National Agriculture Day as they learned how food gets from the farm to the table. The students participated in hands-on learning activities with live animals, crops, and local farmers.

Throughout the year, teachers receive training in all aspects of health and fitness, as well as strategies for integrating nutrition education into core academic courses. The SPARK (Sports, Play, and Active Recreation for Kids) training program gives teachers another way to incorporate fun physical activities into lesson plans.

According to Judy Huffaker, Alhambra’s nutrition education specialist, the district has achieved positive behavior changes in students’ lifestyle choices. “Now, during classroom parties, or even at home, the children ask their parents for fruits and vegetables more often than ever before,” she said.

The Washoe County school district’s wellness program focuses on encouraging a healthier lifestyle among employees in hopes of creating better role models for students while driving down health-care costs.

All employees and their spouses in the district’s heath care plan are required to contribute $40 a month to the wellness program. But the contribution is reduced -- or even eliminated -- if participants engage in healthy actions, such as attaining an ideal blood pressure, quitting smoking, and maintaining a healthy body mass index.

Since 2001, employees who participated in that plan had the lowest health-care costs. They had fewer overall claims than other employees, and there was a 7 percent reduction in claims among participants.