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M.S.A.D. #29
Serving the towns of Houlton, Hammond, Littleton, and Monticello
in Southern Aroostook County, Northern Maine
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MSAD # 29's Coordinated School Health Program |
Excellence in Coordinated School Health - Wellness & Health Promotion! |
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Three fourths of Maine people die each year from four major diseases: cancer, diabetes, COPD (chronic-obstructive pulmonary disease) and cardiovascular disease. If healthy choices are made, many of these diseases can be prevented. Research tells us that healthy behavior is based not only on knowledge, but also on values and skills developed early in life. Therefore, if we can encourage our children now to develop healthy lifestyles, we can dramatically reduce their risk of disease, injury and premature death. An added benefit to this will be the reduction in health care costs for our citizens and Medicaid expenditures for our state.
This is the rationale used by the Healthy Maine Partnership (HMP) to help fund school health grants to implement a Coordinated School Health Program to synchronize policies, activities and resources that connect health with education. A coordinated school health program is an organized set of policies, procedures and activities designed to protect and promote the health and well being of students and staff. The eight components of this program are: health education; physical education/physical activity; school counseling, physical health and behavior health services; nutrition services; school climate; physical environment; health promotion for staff; and parent, youth, family, community involvement. By linking health to education, school performance can be improved while absenteeism and classroom behavior problems for students can be reduced.
In February 2001, MSAD#29 first received funding from a subcontract from the local HMP Community Grant, one of 31 geographic sites in Maine that benefited from state grant funding, backed by tobacco settlement dollars. The goals of the community grants are to reduce the risk factors that can lead to the major diseases listed above. This is the eighth year that the district’s CSHP has been in place.
Under this health grant, a School Health Coordinator oversees a specific grant work plan, with specific focus on PANT activities – Physical Activity, Nutrition and Tobacco prevention – as part of a Coordinated School Health Program for students and staff.
A School Health Coordinating Team (SHCT), made up of staff representing the health component areas within the district, meets quarterly to guide all aspects of the school health program and to help with meeting health grant goals. A district wide School Staff Wellness Team is also in place. This team creates a yearly action plan of activities to address the overall wellness of staff and students. In addition, there are other health task force groups that work on specific areas, such as reducing youth obesity and improving school meals. To provide a link to and involvement from community members, the School Health Advisory Council, has also been formed to give input the district’s CSHP.
For the 2009-10 school year, the district pays 20% of the School Health Coordinator salary. The remainder is paid by the Department of Education through the Fund for a Healthy Maine and also provides program money for the Coordinated School Health Program. The MSAD#29 Coordinated School Health Program collaborates with Healthy Aroostook, the community Healthy Maine Partnership funded site, which includes the District Tobacco Coordinator/Community Health Educator, the Youth Action Program Coordinator and the local Project Director.
Fall 2009
USDA Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Programs for 2009-10: Houlton Elementary, Houlton Southside, and Wellington schools are recipients of this grant! The total funds received were in excess of $37,000, based on about $52 per student per year. Fruit and vegetable snacks will be offered to all students at these schools during the mid morning snack time at least twice weekly. As a kick-off to the program, during the first week of school students and staff members were treated to both fruit and vegetable platters. Locally grown fruits and vegetables will be used, when possible. The intent of the program is to increase student consumption of vegetables and fruits. Nutrition education is being provided by classroom teachers, and will be supported by other nutrition programs sponsored by the district’s Coordinated School Health Program and Food Services.
School Gardens: Houlton Southside School - The “salad” raised bed gardens behind the school have been producing many kinds of vegetables, including lettuce, onions, carrots, cucumber, grape tomatoes, radishes and green peppers. A few students have been assisting with the harvesting of the vegetables. The vegetables have been used in the salad bar at the school. Also, during the Wellness Week at summer school, students weeded and harvested lettuce and radishes for the lunch meals served in the cafeteria. It is hopeful that some classrooms will incorporate some activities in the garden with their curriculums.
Houlton Elementary School – Students are now harvesting many vegetables from the Empowering Life Garden. Cucumbers, summer squash, zucchini and pie pumpkins are currently for sale at the school. Proceeds will help make this garden sustainable. Community members who wanted fresh produce were also encouraged to tend and harvest the produce.
District Staff Wellness Team: A team of five Wellness Team staff members attended the annual Wellness Conference at Sugarloaf in June. The conference included several dynamic speakers on physical activity, nutrition and other wellness topics. Many resources were also gathered by the team. A draft action plan was developed at the workshop to outline wellness activities for students and staff for the 2009-10 school year.
The first major activity of the team will be to provide a “Wellness Lunch and Learn” on September 23, the first early release day for the district. Staff members will sign up in advance for the event, which will include a free lunch and a talk from a state dietician who will respond to the topic, “I’m Too Busy to Be Healthy”. Staff members who opt to attend this professional development will have about one hour for lunch, instead of the usual ½ hour. If this activity is successful, future “Lunch and Learn” sessions on other topics will be provided on subsequent early release days.
Professional Development for Polar PE Program – August 25: District middle and high school health, physical education teachers, School Health Coordinator and curriculum coordinator received a day-long training on the use of heart rate monitors and Trifit computer software, provided by Wayne Martin, PE teacher at Windham High School. This non-competitive program, which is now being used at this school, provides an innovative new tool to assess the performance of students in meeting Maine’s Learning Results for health and physical education. Students set personal goals, log their physical activity and are responsible for turning in several graphical computer print-outs of their activity, which are downloaded from their heart rate wrist monitors. Students’ grades are partially determined by their percentiles, which must be within or above their target heart rates. The teachers are very interested in this type of program and are planning to attend the MAHPERD Workshop in November to find out ways to incorporate this type of programming into their classes.
Walking Wednesday Program: This walk to school program began at Southside School on September 2. Students are encouraged to walk or bike to school on Wednesdays. They also have the option to walk a designated track behind the school before the bell rings each Wednesday morning. The classroom with the highest percentage of participants wins a Golden Sneaker to display in their rooms. Individual students also have the opportunity to win small prizes if they have participated in the program. The purpose of this program is to increase physical activity for youth, who need at least 60 minutes of activity every day.
Celebrate Harvest – September 14-18: This fourth annual event will be taking place in all school cafeterias. Many locally and regionally grown fruits and vegetables, including vegetables from Southside School’s Garden and the Empowering Life Garden, are be used in the menus. This event ties in with the state Harvest Lunch, Farm to School Program, which promotes awareness of the importance of using locally grown foods in school meals.
Houlton Southside School Garden Project - The school has received a $500 grant from Maine Initiatives, Harvest Fund, to put in a garden behind the school. This is a partnership between the school, the Coordinated School Health Program, Cooperative Extension and the Soil and Water Conservation District. Vegetables have been harvested from the garden.
Southside's Garden Harvested |
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Celebrate Harvest September 14 -18 |
(click each image for a larger photo) |
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Student Activities to Promote Healthy Weight
November 2009
District Wellness Policy and Administrative Guidelines: A school/community committee was formed to develop this policy, which sets standards for physical activity and nutrition. Specific administrative guidelines were also created to identify expectations for physical activity and all food venues at school. This includes standards for school meals, vending machines, fundraising, school celebrations, food sales and teacher meetings. The policy was adopted in 2006 and upgrades are continually being made to promote communication, education and adherence of the policy.
Improvements to School Meals: Changes made to school meals to include: ½ whole wheat, ½ white flour used in all homemade breads, rolls and pizza dough at all school cafeterias. Whole grain tortillas and hamburger buns also used for sandwiches and wraps. Many fresh fruits and vegetables offered, including salad bars for Houlton High School and Houlton Southside School. Number of processed entrée meals reduced and replaced with traditional meals, including boneless chicken breast, turkey/ham dinners, Shepherd’s Pie, Build a Taco Bar and Chicken Pie.
Southside School Fruit O Gram Fundraiser: held annually for Valentine’s Day: a decorative bag/tag with a large orange or apple is sold staff members and students at all elementary schools in the district. This is a healthy alternative to candy. Proceeds go to physical activity/nutrition programs at the school. Staff and students help to carry out the program.
FFVP (Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Grants) for Houlton Elementary, Houlton Southside and Wellington School: Fresh fruit and vegetable snacks provided at least twice weekly for all students and, for modeling purposes, teachers and support staff who are in the classrooms at the time the snack is given. Nutrition education is provided for the students by the teachers within the classrooms and includes sharing of nutritional info sheets (health benefits, recipes, etc.) using websites provided in the grant. Nutrition education is also provided through school wide events, such as Spudtacular Days, PreK Read and Learn, Celebrate Harvest and health fairs. Bulletin boards at each school display weekly snack choices.
Clementine Project: Students and staff at all schools receive clementines for a mid-morning snack each year in December. More than 70 crates of fruit are donated by LGS Sales, distributors for the Darling Clementine Company.
Bottled Water Project: Bottled water from Poland Springs is provided for all students at Houlton Elementary, Houlton Southside and Wellington School through a special program with a distributor, to encourage students to drink more water. Coolers provided in-kind by vendor. Program at Southside is overseen by student council. Nominal cost is .50/bottle.
Walking Wednesday at Southside School: Runs in the fall and spring for all students at the school to promote physical activity. Teacher and police department help monitor the street leading to the school. A new Safety Patrol, made up of four students from the school, assist students in crossing the street to the school. Plastic neon men are also placed along the street to alert drivers. Students have the option of walking to school or walking a specified track behind the school. Classrooms in each grade that have the highest percentage of walkers get to hold the “Golden Sneaker”. Individual student prizes are also given.
Farm to School Initiatives:
School Gardens: Wellington School Garden provides a wide variety of vegetables for the school lunch program. Houlton Southside students planted a “salad” garden in June 2009, in collaboration with Cooperative Extension and the Southern Aroostook Soil and Water District. Funding was provided by a state grant. Many vegetables have been used in the salad bar at the school. Houlton Elementary School students helped plant and harvest the “Empowering Life” garden on the Lake Road. Many vegetables were sold at the school to help buy seeds for the spring of 2010. Cucumbers were purchased by the School Lunch Program for the school.
Celebrate Harvest: Partnerships with local and regional farmers, including district school gardens and MSAD#1 School Farm to provide seasonal produce to be used in school cafeterias. This is highlighted in the annual Celebrate Harvest event, a week-long promotion in all schools in September to use many locally grown produce in menus.
After School Physical Activity and Nutrition Programs:
Wellington School: offers fall and spring walking clubs and winter cross country skiing for students.
21st Century After School Programs: is provided for students in Grades 4-8. This includes physical activity and nutrition programs during the enrichment part of the program. Cooperative Extension provides cooking classes and easy meals. Also included are: Wii Sports/DDR, walking, mountain biking, snowshoe, cross country ski and downhill ski programs.
Wii/Dance Dance Revolution Program: was funded for Southside School through grants, fundraising and a Walmart matching grant. About $5000 was used to purchase large screen TVs, mats, accessories and other games. A committee at the school oversees the program. School staff members have been trained and can sign out the Wii for their classrooms. Is also incorporated into the after school program and in PE class at the school. A Wii and accessories were also purchased for the Houlton High School PE program.
Comprehensive School Health Education /PE Curriculums: MSAD#29 has both health education and PE curriculum that are aligned to Maine’s Learning Results. Students receive education, including key concepts on physical activity and nutrition, as part of their health education and PE classes at all grade spans. New syllabi were developed during the 2008-09 school year for Grades 9-12 Health and PE classes to upgrade the existing curriculums to align with the newest Maine Learning Results, which were put into place in 2007. The new syllabi
include learning goals, performance outcomes, teaching methods, grading, student rules/behavior expectations and course calendars. The junior high and elementary grade spans will also be updated during the 2009-10 and 2010-2011 school years.
PE/Health Education Program Upgrade: All district PE teacher and junior high/high school teachers are developing a plan to enhance the current programs. The kick-off for this plan began in August 2009 when the teachers were trained in the New Polar PE Program, which uses heart rate monitors and software to increase student fitness and accountability. The plan will include creative scheduling to increase PE time, integrating health and PE classes at the high school, teacher training to learn new PE programs and providing new technology, including heart rate monitors and software. The implementation will be done in phases, starting at the high school level.
Take Time/Maine-ly Nutrition Programs: Many elementary teachers receive annual training and funding ($100) used to purchase educational materials and food in order to provide nutrition information to students. Wellington School also provides the Take Time! Program, leading 10 minutes of daily physical activity for all students, which is integrated within the classroom.
ACES Day: This annual district wide promotion is held on the first Wednesday in May to align with the national awareness day for physical activity. A contest is held and all staff members are asked to help lead their students in at least 15 minutes of physical activity sometime during this day. Reports are sent to the state agency leading this, regarding how many participated and for how long. A drawing is held and a prize (usually a veggie or fruit platter) is given to the class that wins.
5210 Let’s Go: SAD29 collaborates with Healthy Aroostook, the local Healthy Maine Partnership coalition, to provide this program that addresses youth obesity. It stands for: eating 5 or more fruits and vegetables, limiting TV/screen time to less than 2 hours, getting at least 1 hour of physical activity and 0 - eliminating sugary beverages, in favor of drinking water and nonfat milk. Each school has a school kit with binders and other resources to help provide activities to promote each number. Laminated numbers are placed around the schools to highlight specific activities that pertain to each number. Many activities are integrated with other programs at elementary schools, i.e. Healthy eating is promoted with parents and students through HES literacy grant: Read and Learn Program for PreK.
Story Walk: A 5210 program activity provided for all students in Grades K-3 at Houlton Elementary and Wellington School in spring of 2009. This is part of the 5210 Let’s Go Program: www.5210goestoschool.org. Students go outside and move from station to station, read the story and act it out. Story pages are copied, laminated and attached to signs that stick in the ground. This is a great integration of physical activity and literacy. Houlton Elementary School’s story walk was featured on the above website and a photograph will be included in the Maine Early Literacy Calendar 2010.
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Smokeless Saturday
Smokeless Saturday provides a positive, educational alternative for kids caught breaking the tobacco prevention laws. Instead of suspension from school and fines through the criminal justice system, the community works
together to provide Smokeless Saturday as a day-long, interactive program to get kids to look closely at their tobacco use, why they should quit, and how they can quit.
Here’s How It Works:
If a person under age 18 is found in possession of tobacco products, he/she will be issued a summons to court. For their first offense they will have the
option of participating in Smokeless Saturday which is held on an as needed basis. (We need 6 students in order to run a full program. Other options are available for smaller groups.)
What Happens at the Smokeless Saturday Sessions?
The interactive sessions are designed to give teens an opportunity to rethink their decision to use tobacco products. They include the following elements:
- Why they use tobacco, with exercises to help them understand their own habit and addiction. Identifying “trigger” situations that lead to tobacco use. The influence of family and friends, advertising, and media manipulation.
- The consequences of tobacco use.
- How to quit – what resources are available locally, refusal skills, avoiding trigger situations, and goal setting.
- Optional parent session (apart from the kids) to help them understand their role in preventing tobacco use.
Participants also receive the message, loud and clear, that this is not about punishment – it is about caring about them as an important part of the
community, keeping them healthy and looking out for their well-being (vs. the multi-gazillion dollar tobacco industry).
How You Can Become Involved:
The whole community is involved in making Smokeless Saturday a success.
- School and law enforcement policies are coordinated to get kids into the program.
- Community members’ active support helps encourage school and police personnel to vigorously enforce the rules so that everyone recognizes the importance – both to prevent tobacco use and to get kids the help they need.
- Smokeless Saturday facilitators are always needed. Healthy Aroostook will provide training for anyone interested in volunteering.
- Merchants and other community members provide donations of food,
supplies and time to keep the program running.
Contact Information:
For more information about the Smokeless Saturday program please
contact:
Erica Shaw McCrum, CHES
Healthy Aroostook Youth Coordinator
Fort Street Elementary School
38 Fort Street
Mars Hill, ME 04758
Phone: (207) 227-7678
E-mail: ejshaw@yahoo.com
With everyone’s involvement we can provide a quality program and a
consistent message that it’s not okay for kids to use tobacco…and we will reduce youth tobacco use in our communities!
Next Class:
Saturday, November 7, 2009 from 9 am – 12:00 pm in the Center for
Community Health Education at Houlton Regional Hospita
lSTUDENTS MUST PRE-REGISTER AT 227-7678 IN ORDER TO ATTEND. PLEASE NOTE: IF STUDENTS ARE DISRUPTIVE OR DO NOT FULLY PARTICIPATE IN THE SMOKELESS SATURDAY CLASS, THE FACILITATOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO NOT ISSUE THEM A CERTIFICATE.
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Any questions or comments regarding the district’s CSHP program should be directed to:
Lynn Brown, MSAD#29 School Health Coordinator
Houlton Southside School
65 South Street
Houlton, Maine 04730
521-0365
lybrown@houlton.sad29.k12.me.us
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