District Administration - May 2011 - (Page 69)

First graders from Valley View Elementary School in the Las Cruces (N.M.) Public Schools make their way back from mid-morning recess (left), and then enjoy fresh vegtables during their lunch period (right) in the cafeteria. kids had clean hands before eating,” recalls Wanda McCullough, who has been principal of Laura Dearing Elementary in Las Vegas since before the school switched to RBL. Washing with soap and water is the most effective method of killing germs, but a logistical impossibility on some campuses. “We’re an older, outside school with only three major restrooms for over 800 students. What we’ve come up with is giving a bottle of hand sanitizer to the teachers that are out on duty,” she says, “and giving every kid a squirt before they go into the cafeteria.” Many schools install hand-sanitizing dispensers directly on lunchroom walls. Like every principal in the Clark County (Nev.) School District, McCullough has been working with a RBL schedule since the fall of 2007. That was the starting year prescribed in a new school wellness policy that was adopted by the State Board of Education and subsequently mandated by Clark County Schools. The district is the fifth-largest in the United States, the educational home to nearly three-quarters of Nevada’s 436,000 schoolchildren. Mary Pike has broad responsibility as the director of science, health, physical education and foreign language in the www.DistrictAdministration.com Curriculum and Professional Development Division of Clark County Schools. “The reason for our switch to recess before lunch,” she explains, “is that kids were throwing their food away because they wanted to go out to play. We have so many schools on free and reduced lunch. The kids need those meals. Anything we can do to make sure they’re getting nutrition is important.” Laura Dearing Elementary, for example, is an at-risk school with an 87 percent rate of free and reduced lunch. Free breakfast is available to all those in need. As the principal’s concerns go, hand-washing pales in comparison to hunger. “It’s important to me to make sure that kids get at least a good lunch and a good breakfast,” Wanda McCullough says. “Sometimes those are the only meals they have all day.” School Plate to Home Plate When given time to exercise and then linger over a meal, children not only eat more, but they make better choices about what to consume, says Barbara Berger, a health and nutrition specialist with Las Cruces Public Schools in southern New Mexico. In the past six years, 22 of her district’s 25 elementary schools have come on board with RBL. Las Cruces principals seem to have been inspired by two main factors: the increase in post-lunch instruction time made possible by relaxed, well-fed children; and the results of a plate-waste study designed early on by Berger and her boss, Tips for Making the Recess/Lunch Switch • Plan ahead: obtain buy-in and support from school staff. • Involve students and parents in planning efforts. • Start with a limited pilot program or trial period, then monitor and adjust as needed. • Address common challenges before implementation: hand-washing scheduling of lunch times and eating spaces supervision issues flow patterns between playground and cafeteria Tips courtesy of Montana Office of Public Instruction. See the complete RBL guide at opi.mt.gov/pdf/schoolfood/RBL/RBLGuide2008.pdf. May 2011 69 http://opi.mt.gov/pdf/schoolfood/RBL/RBLGuide2008.pdf http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - May 2011

District Administration - May 2011
Contents
From the Editor
News Update
Conversations
Administrator Profile
District Profile
The Cradle-to-Career Solution
Turnaround Principals
Starving for Recess
Army Strong, Superintendent Savvy
Budgeting Based on Student Needs
Research Center
Books
Product Focus
Products
Superintendent's Insights
Crisis Response
Going Mobile
Professional Opinion

District Administration - May 2011