Education Law

So much for blaming it on the parents

A recent study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that factors such as the community and school environment, the food environment, peer influences, television viewing, and individual factors such as self-image and self-esteem may actually be more important than parental eating habits in determining children’s eating behaviors.  BoardBuzz thinks these findings point to the importance of influences outside the home on children and youth’s health behaviors, and emphasize the growing need to engage schools and communities in providing children and youth with opportunities and positive models for healthy eating and physical activity.

While BoardBuzz knows there are plenty of useful ways for schools and communities to work together to keep students healthy and ready to learn, joint use agreements can be particularly effective and cost-efficient.  When schools and cities (or other community organizations) share facilities such as gyms, pools, or playgrounds, they share costs and add value to already-existing resources.  Joint use can really help expand access to opportunities to keep students active and healthy before, during, and after school, and even throughout the summer.

Several websites can help you learn more about joint use and find helpful resources.   The new California Joint Use Statewide Taskforce website focuses on joint use in California but provides fact sheets and other useful information about joint use that applies anywhere.  For additional information about joint use, including sample joint use policies, visit the National Policy and Legal Analysis Network (NPLAN) website. And once you have learned more about how joint use can benefit your district, why not start thinking about who in your community could be a potential joint use partner?  Don?t forget about your municipal parks and recreation department, community pools, YMCAs, and others.

Joint use is just one strategy schools can use to improve the food and activity environment for students.  To learn more about physical activity and healthy eating in schools, visit the NSBA School Health Programs website.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on July 24, 2009 (boomark / email).