Healthy Schools Campaign

When Parents Unite, Great Things Happen

As the new year gets underway, parents across Chicago are coming together and developing plans for another great year of making changes to support healthy eating and physical activity in schools.

Parents United for Healthy Schools/Padres Unidos para Escuelas Saludables is HSC's coalition that brings together parents and community members to create healthy school environments for the city’s children. This coalition held one of its quarterly meetings today, looking ahead to the coming months. 

Last year was a big year for Parents United. 

• Jovita Flores, manager of Parents United, was honored by the White House;
• Wellness teams across the city made new strides in their schools;
• The Cook County board formally recognized Parents United;
• Parent leaders discovered new strengths and talents through Parents United
• ... and much more. Read a full list of past blog posts here!

Of course, as Guillermo Gomez, HSC's vice president of urban affairs, said last year in an interview on the accomplishments of Parents United, "The formation of Parents United is still our biggest accomplishment! To bring together a group of parents who became leaders around wellness, to propose change to healthy food at the district level and then see the food change."

Today, as Parent United members gather and look ahead, HSC honors all the dedicated parent leaders who contribute their time and talents to making positive change in our schools. 

Listen to parent leader Karina Macedo tell her story, below:

 

Plus: Read the full interview with Jovita Flores and Guillermo Gomez about the founding of Parents United for Healthy Schools. 

Green Ribbon Schools and You: A Healthy School Includes IAQ

By Tracy Enger, U.S. EPA IAQ Tools for Schools

You may know that your kids have healthy food options at school, but do you know how healthy the air is that they breathe? Ensuring a healthy school environment involves more than just nutritious lunches, gym class and recycling programs. Indoor air quality (IAQ) and a proactive IAQ management program are critical to children’s health, wellbeing and productivity.

The U.S. Department of Education’s new Green Ribbon Schools initiative gives green and healthy schools the recognition that they deserve. Green Ribbon Schools is the first federal recognition program to showcase schools from across the country that save energy, reduce costs, feature environmentally sustainable learning spaces, and protect the health of their students and staff.

To be considered a Green Ribbon School, schools must be taking specific actions to ensure a green and healthy environment. We at EPA are proud that the IAQ Tools for Schools guidance is prominently featured as a recommended resource for improving the health and performance of students and staff, and can be used to meet “Pillar Two” of the Green Ribbon Schools application.

The IAQ Tools for Schools guidance is widely used throughout the country and provides school districts with the framework and tools to create and maintain an integrated IAQ management program. Implementing the low- to no-cost solutions in IAQ Tools for Schools guidance can have a measurable and profound impact on the health, productivity and attendance rate of our teachers and students.

In fact, 11 Green Ribbon Schools winners are previous IAQ Tools for Schools National Award winners as well!

To learn more on how to create a green and healthy school by proactively managing indoor air quality, I invite you to participate in the U.S. Department of Education’s first Green Strides Webinar: Discover Why Good IAQ is Essential for Green and Healthy Schools on Thursday, June 21, 2012, from 1 – 2 p.m. EDT.  

During this webinar, Omaha Public Schools, NE and Montgomery County Public Schools, MD ─ both Green Ribbon Schools and IAQ Tools for Schools National Award winners ─ will discuss why IAQ is an essential component of their school environmental health management programs. These two school districts will also share specifically how IAQ Tools for Schools guidance helped them create a comprehensive and effective IAQ management plan.

With so much happening in the green and healthy schools movement, I encourage you to sign up for this free webinar and learn how IAQ Tools for Schools can help you create healthier learning environments and become a 2013 Green Ribbon Schools awardee.

“I understand the power of parent engagement:” Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard Connects with Parents United for Healthy Schools

by Guillermo Gomez, vice president of urban affairs

Recently, Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard met with parents in HSC’s Parents United for Healthy Schools/Padres Unidos para Escuelas Saludables coalition to talk about wellness in the city’s schools. It was a thoughtful conversation about a wide range of issues that shape wellness, from recess and physical activity to healthy eating, school facilities, and prioritizing wellness in discussions of a longer school day.

Across all these issues, though, I heard one fundamental message: parent engagement matters for school wellness.

CEO Brizard put it this way: “I understand the power of parent engagement. Today, parent involvement in the schools is critical.”

Parent leaders shared their experiences creating wellness teams and supporting school-level changes such as bringing back recess and creating school-wide policies on healthy eating. Parents talked about how these changes support their own values and the type of healthy lifestyle they want for their children. CEO Brizard shared his perspective as a district leader as well as his own experience as a parent working to connect with his child’s teachers and school administrators around issues he cares about.

He encouraged parents to continue speaking up at schools and at this district level, to not be discouraged if they start out with only a few other advocates. A group of just five parents with a compelling idea, he said, can make a real impact.

The parent leaders in Parents United are doing just that, supporting physical activity and healthy eating at schools across the city. In fact, these parents have been pioneers in advocating for health and wellness in Chicago schools since 2006. This meeting provided an opportunity for parents making change at the school level to connect with a leader who is making change at the district level. I was encouraged by the exchange of ideas and happy to see the shared commitment to parent leadership and student wellness. I hope this dialogue continues in the months ahead and that we will be able to bring about even more health-promoting changes at schools and in the district as a whole.

Stay posted for more reflections on this meeting from parent leaders.

Prioritizing Health & Wellness in Discussions of a Longer School Day

by Guillermo Gomez, Vice President of Urban Affairs

In my years working with parents in Chicago Public Schools to advocate for wellness in schools -- for simple but important changes such as bringing back recess -- one of the most common concerns we hear is "there's just not enough time." With one of the shortest school days in the nation, Chicago school leaders are forced to make tough decisions about how to spend every minute kids are in school. And unfortunately, this means that health and wellness initiatives such as recess and nutrition education can get squeezed out.

We’ve worked with schools to find creative ways to make wellness part of the day, but the reality is that without a longer school day, schools will continue to struggle to make time for all the things that matter, including physical activity and lessons about wellness.

The movement toward a longer school day has made headlines in recent weeks, with Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard expressing their strong support for a new schedule that would include 90 minutes a day more than the current schedule. CPS leaders are encouraging schools to switch to the new schedule now and are planning for all schools to transition to the new schedule for the 2012-13 school year.

CPS has formed a Community Advisory Committee focused on the longer school day. I was honored to be invited to serve on this committee and was encouraged by the discussion at our first meeting last week.

What stood out to me most at the meeting was that the discussion didn’t focus on how to parse an additional 90 minutes; rather, we talked about a new vision for education, one that better equips students to succeed in school and beyond. This includes recess and adequate lunch periods for students as well as enrichment opportunities including physical education, art and music.

My perspective is that these changes will have an impact far beyond their face value. Recess, for example, does more than give children a chance to be active (which is already incredibly valuable in light of the obesity epidemic); it also helps them focus when they get back to the classroom. Having enough time to eat lunch means that students have a better chance of returning to class with the energy they need to learn. And we can’t forget that students form lifelong habits -- good or bad -- in school. Structuring the school day to encourage healthy eating and physical activity will help students develop healthy habits that will stay with them for life.

At our first advisory committee meeting, we began by reviewing a snapshot of CPS statistics. One number stood out to me: 57 percent of high school students graduate. This means that 43 percent of students do not. This is a shocking number that to me sends a clear message about the need to honestly re-think education in our city. I am glad that by taking steps to a longer school day and making wellness a priority in the school day dialogue, we are beginning to do just that.

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Plus! Guillermo is featured in a news report on the move to a longer school day on ABC-7:

Recess Returns to Chicago Public Schools: Another Milestone for Parents United, Another Victory for Kids

By Guillermo Gomez, vice president of urban affairs

Yesterday, Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard announced that the district will mandate recess in the 2012 school year. 

This not only represents a victory for children across the city, but also a milestone for Parents United for Healthy Schools! 

Since 2006, the parent-led group has provided a voice for parents, educators, and community advocate determined to create a culture of health and wellness in the school environment. Bringing back recess was a main objective of Parents United in addressing health disparities such as childhood obesity. 

In 2009, Parents United submitted more than 4,000 petitions in support of recess and called for the creation of the Recess Task Force. Together with the district, we put together the Recess Development Plan, which is currently being used to transition physical activity into the school day.

Local support for recess mirrors national sentiment. 

Recess provides children with the necessary physical activity to reduce childhood obesity and stimulates cognitive and emotional abilities. Research continues to reinforce how healthy, active children are better prepared to learn and succeed.

The hard work of parents, health and wellness advocates, and our schools continues to amaze me. This victory doesn't mean our work is done. Parents can get involved in by joining their local school review committee:

• Facilitate and create opportunities to discuss school wellness. You can review the Chicago Public Schools wellness policy here.
• Engage other parents by working with your local school council, school wellness committee, and recess committee.
• Volunteer your time to support recess and wellness.

I applaud Chicago Public Schools in making health and wellness a priority. 

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You can read the Spanish version of the Chicago Public Schools wellness policy here.

To learn more about the Parent Leadership Institute and read about last year’s institute, check out the Parents United for Healthy Schools section of HSC’s blog. 

You can read exercise and recess updates on our blog.

Healthy Schools Campaign Shares Power of Parents in Detroit

By Guillermo Gomez, vice president of urban affairs

Last week, Parents United for Healthy Schools campaign manager Jovita Flores and I were invited by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to share our work with food and fitness advocates at the Food & Fitness Collaborative meeting in Detroit. The meeting brought together representatives from a variety of organizations to share best practices and techniques for parent involvement, youth leadership and program evaluation. 

Jovita and I have had the opportunity to witness the power of parent involvement through our work developing HSC’s Parents United for Healthy Schools/Padres Unidos para Escuelas Saludables coalition, and this was a great opportunity to discuss what we have learned with others who are interested in supporting parent leadership around food and fitness issues.  

While there, we shared tools for parent leadership development that we’ve created and refined over the years with input from parents. This includes documents and printed tools but also includes ideas for events such as our annual principals’ breakfast where parent leaders and principals gather to share ideas for school wellness. These tools make talking to school administrators about health and wellness easier and more effective. Some of the most important tools we’ve developed are those that help parents talk about school wellness policies and take steps to form a wellness team or committee at their school. It was an honor to share these resources with others who are eager to take action.

Our work with Parents United continues to extend parent involvement. Along with principals and teachers, parents are the most invested stakeholders in schools -- and they are most definitely key advocates for children’s health. What we’ve found is that parents are completely integral in creating change and developing strategies for an academic culture that promotes wellness. Since Parents United was created in 2006, we’ve worked with parent leaders to advocate for the return of recess, healthy school food, breakfast in the classroom and much more. 

In my years as a parent and as an advocate, it’s been great to see an institutional shift toward healthy, active decisions. I am inspired by the incredible work of the parent leaders who speak up to make change that will shape their children’s health and learning for a lifetime. We were honored to speak at  the W.K. Kellogg Foundation event and share this work with the various Food & Fitness grantees. I look forward to hearing about the work they do for parent leadership in their own communities. 

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Today, we’re kicking off the 2011 Parent Leadership Institute at Richard J. Daley College. The training will not only emphasize leadership development, but also encourage parents to be part of the Go for the Gold campaign, the local embodiment of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move Campaign. 

To learn more about the Parent Leadership Institute and read about last year’s institute, check out the Parents United for Healthy Schools section of HSC’s blog. 

Parent Summit: Celebrating Parent Leadership, Creating Healthier Schools

By Guillermo Gomez

Recently, Parents United for Healthy Schools held its 4th Annual Parent Summit, "Creating Healthier Schools Through Parent Leadership in Chicago Public Schools." More than 200 parents representing 40 school-based wellness teams from across the city participated. The summit was a reflection of the positive changes that are taking place in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) through school wellness teams and parent involvement.

This year’s summit was a celebration filled with sones jarochos music and dancing along with parent testimonials that highlighted the rewards of long years of work developing school wellness teams.  We recognized two young students, now in high school, who demonstrated feisty leadership while in grammar school by advocating for recess at their schools. Six parents from Little Village Academy were recognized for winning their local school council elections on a wellness platform. And two schools, McCormick and Lowell Elementary, were recognized for their school wellness team’s incorporation of recess as a SIPAAA goal.
 

Parents also celebrated two major accomplishments:

After years of parent advocacy for recess, the CPS central office sent a letter in March 2010 to all principals in support of recess and its positive benefits, strongly encouraging all principals to include recess as a SIPAAA goal.

CPS also announced new nutrition standards for school food beginning in the 2010-2011 school year, providing healthier meals to all students. Under the new standards, school meals will meet or exceed the gold standard of the HealthierUS School Challenge that First Lady Michelle Obama is encouraging schools to take on.

Parents also announced the Go for the Gold Campaign as a goal for next year. The Go for the Gold campaign is an initiative to improve school food and fitness in Chicago by supporting school efforts to meet the HealthierUS School Challenge.  This program will improve student access to healthy meals, nutrition education and physical activity.

HSC is thrilled to support and celebrate the tremendous accomplishments of these parents, students, and school wellness teams. Stay posted for more updates!

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Lessons from Chicago Help Colorado Leaders Prepare for School Wellness Campaign

By Guillermo Gomez

As Colorado prepares to launch a school wellness campaign, lessons from Chicago are helping to shape future strategy. Recently I was invited by the Colorado Health Foundation to speak at a parent engagement meeting with representation from statewide stakeholders.  They wanted to learn how HSC and Parents United for Healthy Schools were able to bring together a cross-section of parent leadership in Chicago to advocate for healthier food and recess policy in Chicago Public Schools.  
 
I mentioned that part of our success comes from parent investment -- that calling a meeting with parents is not necessarily working "with" parents.   The commitment involves an organic learning process, leadership development, finding a common language and developing the right tools for parents to be able to speak up for social justice in their communities.  Rather than just collecting parents' names, it's about motivating parent investment and action.  
 
I also shared how we have worked on childhood obesity issues since 2004 before it became a hot-button issue. In that work, parents organized other parents from across the city; they structured wellness teams, parent summits and trainings while building a strong base of support until new school food standards and district support for recess became a reality.
 
Participants were excited and made a commitment to figure out their strategy for making Colorado the next place to create healthy school environments through real parent engagement.  

Parent leaders gather at an HSC parent summit

Kids Say: Offer Simple, Healthy Alternatives to Violence

by Guillermo Gomez, HSC Chicago Director

As part of a social studies project, fifth-grade students at Little Village Academy recommended simple solutions to curbing violent activity in their neighborhood. They thought schools should give students other outlets to socialize and spend their time and energy -- Like recess, gym and fun, educational afterschool activities.

Eleven year-old Marissa Juarez said: "Kids would be interested in after-school programs and it would keep their minds off gangs. It would keep them inside and safe." But these types of programs are often viewed by schools as "extra" -- and are cut when budgets run tight, which they often do at schools in low-income neighborhoods, just where students need these outlets most.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, among fifth- through eighth-graders at Sexton Elementary in Woodlawn, "98 percent have heard gunshots in their neighborhood; 85 percent know a friend or relative who has been shot at, and more than three-quarters have lost a friend or relative to gunfire." This statistic suggests students are at high risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition that refugee camp administrators and psychologists treat with just what the students at Little Village recommended: Healthy activity, positive social outlets and creative expression.

HSC supports programs that encourage recess and gym as part of the regular school day, and in Little Village we've helped parents to stand up for their children's right to a healthy, positive learning environment. Parents are taking exercise and cooking classes, pushing for wellness education in the classroom, and hopefully spreading these values to the next generation.

"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.

Junk Food Islands: Transforming Communities to Combat Childhood Obesity

by Guillermo Gomez, HSC Chicago Director

A recent article published in the Robert Wood Johnson Childhood Obesity Digest suggests that one-third of schools in the nation have at least one fast food restaurant or convenience store within walking distance. The researchers found that schools in low-income neighborhoods had more fast food restaurants and convenience stores than those in higher income neighborhoods.

Just as we have food deserts in lower socio-economic neighborhoods, we also have junk food islands with high concentrations of fast food restaurants and convenience stores.

Clearly, this has an impact on health and wellness efforts in school. As the researchers write, "this study suggests that curbing obesity in adolescents will require addressing the food environment surrounding schools as well as within schools."

Healthy Schools Campaign and Parents United for Healthy Schools, a coalition we brought together to make healthy changes at schools in Chicago’s Latino neighborhoods, work to combat childhood obesity in part by creating school wellness teams and working with parents to promote healthy lifestyles at home and at schools.

As this research shows, it appears that if we want to have any significant impact in fighting the obesity epidemic, then we need to address the community environment as well as the school and home environments.  If we start at home by creating a healthy lifestyle and take that message to schools, we also have to look at the community surrounding the school.

In Parents United for Healthy Schools work in Chicago’s Little Village, for example, we began by engaging parents in the healthy lifestyles message. These parents then took the message to schools, forming school wellness teams and advocating for healthy food and increased physical activity.

But the parents also took the message to the community, talking with restaurant owners about using healthier oils (and less of it) and sharing their recipe for healthier tamales with a popular local caterer. They worked with other parents to plant backyard gardens that provide fresh vegetables, started walking clubs, and have essentially made the wellness message part of the fabric of a community.

This creates an environment in which the community is more receptive to healthy changes at school and, importantly, where children receive the same wellness messages from teachers, parents and the adults in their neighborhood.

If we are to succeed in fighting obesity in communities with "junk food islands," then we must develop a strategy to address the junk food – and the messages – that surround our  schools.

Proposed Bottled Water Tax Sends the Wrong Message

by Guillermo Gomez, HSC Chicago Director

Recently, Chicago Alderman George Cardenas (12th Ward) proposed a new tax on bottled water purchased in the city. Although the proposed tax of 10 to 25 cents per bottle may help reduce garbage, its main goal is to help cover a $217 million gap in the city's budget.

Bottled water has come under a lot of fire lately for its environmental impact: The New York Times reported on a trend of feeling guilty for buying bottled water, MSNBC covered a movement of upscale restaurants removing bottled water from the menu, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch described a private school removing water from its vending machines and giving students reusable water bottles instead.  But this would be the first effort to actually tax it.

Now, we love our sturdy reusable water bottles here at HSC. They help us stay hydrated without creating garbage or using natural resources to produce plastic bottles and transport them across the country. They help us save money, too.

At the same time, we're aware of the epidemic levels of obesity that kids today face, and the complications such as diabetes that go with childhood overweight. We're also aware of the billions of dollars spent every year to market sugary soft drinks and nutritionally empty "juice drinks" to kids.

In this climate where sodas, sugary smoothies, fattening coffee drinks and high-calorie artificial fruit drinks seem to be sold on every corner, it's alarming that anyone would consider making it more difficult to choose the healthiest option:  water.

A tax that would discourage the purchase of bottled water seems dangerously close to encouraging the purchase that other drink that comes in a plastic bottle but has the negative consequence of contributing to the obesity epidemic.

It's ideal when schools give kids reusable water bottles and have plenty of working water fountains. But the truth is that in a lot of schools – especially older schools in low-income communities – you can't find a working water fountain to get a sip or refill your bottle.

When kids are faced with a choice of buying bottled water or buying a sugary drink, the last thing they need is a tax to discourage them from drinking water.