Guest Viewpoint: State teams are working to promote healthier students

10/28/03 -- Few would expect to tackle a national problem that has been brewing for 30 years, caused by overlapping personal, social, and national factors, and produce concrete results in a single year.

But that is exactly what has happened since the Action for Healthy Kids (AFHK) initiative began last October to work on changing the nutritional and activity landscape of our nation's youth.

With a focus on action, AFHK quickly gathered the enthusiastic support of more than 35 national organizations and government agencies involved with education, health, physical education, physical activity, and nutrition.

AFHK's underlying premise is that sustainable change can happen with the right public-private partnerships in place. As former U.S. Surgeon General and current AFHK Chair David Satcher says, "Together we really can make a difference in the health of our nation's children."

Satcher galvanized AFHK with his commitment to children and health. In his 2001 report, The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Overweight and Obesity, Dr. Satcher named the nation's school system as one of the five key sites of change. In October 2002, he chaired the Healthy Schools Summit -- along with First Lady Laura Bush -- which launched the AFHK initiative.

During the past year, AFHK built state-level teams in every state and the District of Columbia to address the epidemic of overweight and obese children. More than 85 percent of the teams already have developed concrete action plans and have begun implementing them.

For example, Alabama, Kansas, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire have partnered with the American School Food Service Association, the PTA, dental societies, state education departments, and the U.S. Agriculture Department's "Team Nutrition" to develop and distribute standards for healthy lunchroom environments and healthy policies on vending machines.

Satcher says he is "greatly encouraged by the progress that has been made in one short year, particularly the local activity of the state teams." Last May, a congressional study cited AFHK as a major grassroots force in the fight against childhood obesity. And most recently, the National Football League has awarded the initiative a $2 million grant.

School board involvement is crucial to AFHK's mission and success. NSBA Executive Director Anne L. Bryant, a member of AFHK's Partner Steering Committee, has stressed that such representation within AFHK efforts "is important to us because we want to create policies and programs that make sense for schools and that help kids."

As Bryant says, "If we have school leaders involved in these partnerships, it strengthens all of us."

Given all the pressures school board face -- full agendas, limited budgets, and standardized testing mandates -- it might be hard for them to make nutrition and physical activity a priority.

The fact is that healthy students are more able and ready to learn, and there are significant studies that demonstrate the relationship between nutrition and physical activity to improved academic achievement. School boards that support nutrition and physical activity programs are supporting the mission of developing better students.

For many schools, providing a healthier environment will require significant change. It is essential to learn from models that work and form partnerships with key stakeholders who help to positively influence the school environment.

That's where AFHK can help. Put AFHK efforts to work for your school system. As Satcher emphasizes, "The stakes are too high to do nothing."

Alicia Moag-Stahlberg is executive director of Action for Healthy Kids, and Will Clower is a neuroscientist, health writer, and member of the Pennsylvania Action for Healthy Kids state team.

A MODEL OF SCHOOL BOARD INVOLVEMENT

School board leaders can learn from the efforts undertaken by the Bardstown (Ky.) Independent School District to promote students' health.

These efforts were spearheaded by school board Chair Margie Tudor Bradford, a Healthy School Hero Award winner, a member of Kentucky's Action for Healthy Kids state team, and a former member of the NSBA Board of Directors.

Based on its experiences, the Bardstown school system recommends the following steps to improve nutrition and physical education programs through a coordinated school health program:

• View children's health as a priority.

• Encourage state leaders to create a common vision for coordinated school health programs so resources and efforts are not duplicated at local levels.

• Request sample policies from your state school boards association, NSBA, and the National Association of State Boards of Education.

• Create a districtwide school health council with representatives from the key components of coordinated school health programs. The Bardstown District School Health Council has developed an annual Comprehensive School Improvement Plan, which has been endorsed by the Bardstown school board. The plan serves as a framework by which the district is held accountable at the state level.

• Tackle specific health issues via task-driven subcommittees that are composed of parents and community members to ensure comprehensive support.

The Bardstown school district has taken several steps to address the issue of overweight children. For example, all K-4 classes now have 30 minutes of PE and recess each day, and school nurses work with parents and food service personnel to create special menus for overweight students.

AFHK state teams can help school boards in all states achieve similar successes. For more information, visit www. actionforhealthykids.org.