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August 29, 2005 - Promoting healthy and safe behaviors among students is an important part of the fundamental mission of schools, which is to provide young people with the knowledge and skills they need to become healthy and productive adults. I want to thank the individuals and organizations who have joined together this morning for their leadership in advocating improved school health.
As Massachusetts children head back to school or, in some cases, enter school for the first time, we are here to call attention to the growing evidence that comprehensive and coordinated school health programs and health insurance coverage can improve the health status and learning readiness among students, especially those who live in low-income families. Children served by these programs are:
- Less likely to miss school or be hospitalized
- Less likely to be distracted from learning because of poor health
- Have higher levels of immunization
- Have a reduced incidence of risky behaviors
Healthy students are better learners. Healthy students + Healthy Schools = Best Learning Opportunity!
Today, the policy makers and advocates gathered here in Nurses Hall want to focus the attention of the Romney Administration, the Legislature, and everyone in Massachusetts on the importance of school health to educational excellence.
1. We call upon the Governor and Legislature to increase funding for school nurses and for school-based health centers in any allocation of surplus state revenues this year and, especially, in next year’s FY ’07 state budget. A copy of the letter to the Governor is included in the press packets and we are inviting other legislators and health care advocates to join in signing the letter.
2. We call, as well, upon our legislative colleagues, especially those whose committees are considering school health and school nursing legislation to report those bills favorably in the coming weeks and to expedite the passage of the bills before another school year passes. A list of some of those bills is included in the media packets.
3. We call upon the school districts across the Commonwealth to implement the School Health Index developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in order to:
- Identify the strengths and weaknesses of each school’s health and safety policies and programs.
- Develop an action plan for improving student health.
- Involve teachers, parents, students and the community in improving school policies and programs.
- Share this information with the lawmakers who represent the school district to demonstrate the need for expanded state support for school nursing and school-based health centers.
We believe they’ll find the Index to be relatively easy and inexpensive to complete as Boston and other communities have already done.
4. To reinforce that request to school districts, we are also asking our legislative colleagues, many of whom visit schools in their districts as part of the National Conference of State Legislatures Annual “Legislators Back to School” program or on their own, to encourage their school to participate in the CDC’s School Health Index when they visit their schools. A letter has been sent to every legislator urging them to visit their schools and encourage participation in the Index.
5. We applaud Health Care for All’s Campaign to Reach and Enroll Uninsured Children, and we encourage parents to get health insurance for their children. There is ample evidence that children with insurance are more likely to get the health care they need when they need it. Governor Romney, Senate President Travaglini and Speaker DiMasi have all made expanding health access a priority, and we believe insuring every Massachusetts child would be a good start toward that goal!
6. We want to encourage school administrators and school committees to make school maintenance a priority in every school. Among the steps that school personnel should take is to make sure that HVAC systems and ventilation systems have been cleaned recently, are well-maintained, and are not blocked. The recent report by the Department of Public Health on Pediatric Asthma details the rise in prevalence in recent decades. It affects more than 12% of those under age 18 and costs $11.5 billion a year nationally in direct health care costs
7. Finally, we support efforts to promote good nutrition in our schools and increased opportunities for physical education, exercise and sports. We applaud the recent policy announced by the American Beverage Association to promote more healthy choices for students in school beverage vending machines. The new policy provides that:
- Elementary Schools will have only water and 100% juice.
- Middle Schools will have only nutritious and/or lower calorie beverages such as water, 100% juice, sports drinks, no calorie soft drinks, and low calorie juice drinks and no full-calorie soft drinks or juice drinks until after school.
- High School with a variety of beverage choices such as those for middle school with no more than 50% of the vending selections as soft drinks.
This is a step in the right direction and we look forward to continuing to work with the soft drink industry and others to deal with the problems of obesity related to poor diet choices and lack of exercise among our young children.
At this time, I’d like to ask some other health care leaders to provide more detailed information on these programs and on the importance of promoting healthy students and healthy schools.
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