Fourth District PTA, California State PTA

Building Bridges for Health Award
For Outstanding Contribution to Coordinated School Health

The California State PTA (PTA), the California Department of Education (CDE), and the American Cancer Society (ACS) are collaborating to provide the “Building Bridges for Health” award of special recognition. This award will recognize outstanding efforts to promote coordinated school health at the PTA unit, PTA council, and PTA district levels.

Awards of recognition will be announced at the 2008 California State PTA Convention in Long Beach, May 1.
All three organizations, PTA, CDE, and ACS, share the common goal to advocate for the health, safety, and
welfare of all children and the opportunity for a quality public education for each child.

Awards will be based on the efforts of your PTA unit, council, or district activities to promote the well being of children, staff, and community. Using the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Coordinated School Health Model as a guideline, your PTA’s efforts in promoting school health will be rated on a scale of one to four: 1=limited evidence of accomplishment, 4=exceptional evidence of accomplishment.

Health Education
Physical Education
Nutrition Services
Safe and Healthy School Environment

Health Services
Psychological and Counseling Services
Health Promotion for Staff
Parent and Community Involvement

The CDE provides coordinated school health information at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/he/cs/ and
http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/pn/fd/documents/health-framework-2003.pdf. Additional information is also available
from the CDC at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/he/cs/csh.asphttp://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/CSHP/.

Orange County / Beth England-Mackie – beth.england-mackie@cancer.org, 949.567.0606
Los Angeles County / Lori Kundrat – lori.kundrat@cancer.org, 213.427.7395

[ DOWNLOAD THE APPLICATION ]

Mail, email, or fax application to Diana Ngo no later than March 7, 2008:
Diana Ngo
American Cancer Society
1710 Webster St
Oakland, CA 94612
diana.ngo@cancer.org
fax: 510.874.7161
For more information about the award and application process, call David Saunders: 510.464.8146.

As vice president of health it has been my privilege to work with The Healthy OC Coalition. This group is a collaboration of county organizations, including the County of Orange Health Care Agency, YMCA of Orange County, Dairy Council of California, American Cancer Society, Healthy Dining, American Academy of Pediatrics, Orange County Department of Education, and Fourth District PTA.

These organizations are working together to promote healthier children, families, schools, workplaces and communities. The current focus is the Wellness Policy that each Orange County school district must have in place by June 2006.

To create this policy, each district must establish a School Health Council, develop a School Health Index, write a draft of the policy, and hold a public hearing before the policy is approved by the school board.

The School Health Councils will be set up in different ways; some will be set up only at the district level while other districts may choose to set up health councils at individual schools as well.

The School Health Index is a report card on the district’s success in dealing with eight components of health:

The health index may also be prepared for individual school sites. All of this may seem like a grand undertaking but it is not as hard as it seems. The Healthy OC Coalition is here to help. A few coalition members have been trained to assist school districts in the creation of this important and needed document.

Please ask your school board members and superintendent about your district’s progress in creating a Wellness Policy. Be sure they know about the help that is available to them.

As published in the March 2006 issue of "Orange Leaves". For subscription information, click here.