By Tracy Minkin
From Health magazine
From Health magazine
Education officials in every state were asked for school nominations based on food and nutrition, fitness and activity, health education, and healthy building materials and practices. We used rigorous criteria from the state of Wisconsin and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Healthy Schools Program framework to score nominees. The top-10 schools were reviewed by our expert panel, and each panelist awarded a score to each top-10 school; these scores were added to each school’s first-round score to yield our final ranking.
Additional Reporting by Brittani Tingle
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Comments (16)
I find it interesting that the criteria apparently do not include the actual health of the students. It seems like the score is really a measure of political correctness.
This is an encouraging article. However, I am disappointed that the only comment posted thus far is a negative one. I am not sure what ‘political correctness’ has to do with the desire to improve academic performance, classroom behavior, and the physical fitness of students. Isn’t that everyone’s goal?
In our current testing-obsessed academic culture–thanks, NCLB–we now have, these brave teachers and principals should be commended for finding time for mandatory physical activity during the school day. Aren’t schools supposed to look after the mind AND the body?
Even thought the ultimate goal is to get kids healthy, I think it’s a good thing that student’s health isn’t necessarily an indicator of the healthiest school. It’s important for schools to be recognized for creating environments that will contribute to a child’s overall health. If winners were chosen based on how healthy students were, we’d lose sight of the point Health magazine is trying to make – that setting the stage is vital to getting the outcome you want.
great article! nice to see that schools continue to move in the right direction. For information on eliminating junk food from schools and current health policy updates, please visit: http://www.nojunkfood.org
Where can we find how the rest of the schools rank?
Great Article, it’s always good to hear how the schools are doing academically and health wise in America, lets keep this going and support other schools who are not on the list.
Maybe this can be something that’s done every 6mo. and give credit to those schools who are most improved as well. After all the kids will be able to see this on the web, and would love to see their schools make the cut. Kids will partake in the excitement to improve their schools overall health.
Have to agree with Mark and SV. Please note that the scoring was done on parameters that the school district can control. The actual health of the student would be influenced by his home conditions, genetics, and probably where the student lived (ie near heavy manufacturing would be more detrimental than most rural areas.
I continue to be discouraged by school food services. While they may argue that they follow the dietary guidelines, these are guidelines. I challenge schools to establish their own guidelines that would bring down the fat percentage to less than 30% of calories.
I also echo Mark’s comments/concerns regarding NCLB. Do we have smarter & fatter kids, strung-out teachers who resort to less healthy food choices and zero physical activity with the added work they have to do?
I think that most of you are missing the point of this article all together. I have had experience with two different school districts in KY. Being a mother of 4 and trying to teach my children to make healthy food choices has been a challenge. In our first school, their idea of breakfast was doughnuts, poptarts, and muffins. When I would try to discourage these high sugary foods during grocery shopping my kids responded “Well, we eat it at school!” Obviously, school had more of an influance than I did. How was I to compete with that? At our current school, they offer “healthy choices” of food items(example: cereal or sausage and biscuit; cereal or fruit, eggs,and toast). We don’t disagree nearly as much at the grocery as we use to. School doesn’t make our kids fat and unhealthy, we do! It’s our job as parents to teach our children healthy living not the school but it’s a very big help when the schools help us enforce these values and that’s what I think this article is trying to point out and encourage. Thank you “Health” for giving these schools a pat on the back. I hope that this will help other schools to see the importance of teaching our children healthly living is important, too.
I was told by my son’s school that they are not responsible for making sure my son eats his lunch much less what he eats.
I am a school nutrition manager, and I know that what we are doing at Eastbrook Middle School, has made a difference in the way our students and staff eat. We offer lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, and we have found that more students and staff are choosing to eat healthier. Some students have made the comment that they have lost weight and that they feel better since they began eating off our Fresh Express Line every day. (Fresh Express is a Soup and Salad Line.) Thanks for letting people know that not all schools are the same, and that some school systems are leading the way to good health and good nutrition.
I am so disgusted by the vending machines at my daughters school. I cook a healthy breakfast every morning as I am a stay at home mom and feel that the luch they are served is pretty healthy. I have asked the school to remove the machines and they respond by saying that they need the money generated by the vending machines to help with their budget, when I asked just how much the vending machines help the budget, as I would gladly write a check to get rid of them, it seems that no one really knows just how much money they are generating. One of my daughters homeroom teachers is morbidly obese, and insistes on throwing parties 2-3 times a month and wants all the kids to bring in “anything chocolate”. The days when she throws a “party” it is nothing more than an eating fest. I am trying to teach my daughters about healthy choices and the power in making good decisions about what they put in their bodies and trying not to give them an eating disorder while I am doing it. Our school has a ways to go and needs lots of improvement.
Kamehameha high school needs to be put on this list
check it
for real
We have to run biathlons’/marathons’/triathlons’ as part of our curriculum and our regular P.E from day to day consists of running at least 5-6 miles. Our mile times on top of that need to be under 8 minutes. The food served here is ridiculously healthy and well rounded. Basically the school is pretty much health crazed.
I am very happy to see that people are starting to take notice of our childrens health. As a Physical Education teacher I have been stressing this point for years, but all we hear about is how we have to make our kids smarter. One of the first programs to be cut is PE so we can make more time to study. Many do not realize that a healthy child has a better chance of succeeding in school than an unhealthy child. Hopefully more will be done about the health of our children.
As a Health teacher for 20 years now and stressing a healthy lifestyle I find students love to “show off” when they have healthy foods i e… Carrot sticks, oranges, trail mix snacks etc. I believe it needs to become a fad before the students seriously internilize the benefit of eating right… they are very impressionable.Especially regarding peer acceptance.
I have personally seen how things are done At Anthony Elementary in Leavenworth, KS. Not only have the children’s academic test scores improved dramatically, their fitness scores have gotten increasingly better as well. Anthony is a shining example of what an urban school with low income families can do. More schools should follow Janine Kempker’s lead and impliment her awesome strategies!