District Administration - October 2008 - (Page HSF3)

Now that your district wellness policy is in place, what’s next? A conversation with Richard A. Abramson, M.Ed., Superintendent, School Union 42, Readﬁeld, Maine. What is the role of the district administrator in school wellness? The superintendent sets the tone and expectations for programs and services. I worked with a part-time district wellness coordinator to create, organize and oversee a School/Community Wellness Council. Tell us about your Wellness Council. With the support of the school board and town ofﬁcials, we expanded Wellness Council membership to include representatives from area communities and organizations. We listed all of the organizations and agencies who serve our area with recreation and wellness services and invited each to send a representative to serve on our Council. About six outside agencies and service organizations participate. What is the top consideration when developing an assessment tool? Keep it simple. As a school superintendent, I need straightforward feedback so I can judge the effectiveness of our policy. We looked at several models and chose a simple checklist that was developed by the wellness coordinator in another Maine school district. Which obstacles might administrators encounter? Time often presents challenges. District administrators have limited time to accomplish all of the goals and objectives of their wellness policy. Additionally, nationwide emphasis on testing and meeting educational standards has imposed signiﬁcant time constraints. Administrators need to think outside the box to accomplish and evaluate the objectives of a To view tools in this supplement, please see the Dannon Institute’s website portal on the District Administration website at www.DistrictAdministration.com/DannonInstitute. Healthy Steps Forward Q: A: Rich Abramson has been committed to health and ﬁtness since 1976, when he made a personal commitment to stop smoking and get back into shape. He has served as a superintendent since 1995 in three Maine school districts. wellness policy in a time-efﬁcient way. What have you learned from the assessment process? What are the next steps? Assessment provides regular and on-going feedback that tells us how we are doing to meet the objectives of our wellness policy. We use our checklist data to develop new strategies and modify existing strategies for meeting our wellness objectives. CHECKLIST MSAD #22, Ha mpden, Maine Rate each comp onent that is inc luded in the po licy. Directions – Pu t a B for basic, A for advanced exemplary, as appropriate. , and E for Physical Activity section include s: Im portance of physi cal activity as pa rt of physical education/health education Recess/recess be fore lunch Physical activity in the classroom/ during the schoo Increased physica l day l education Walk to school pro grams Physical activity before and after school Other SCHOOL WELLN ESS POLICY Nutrition sectio n includes: Breakfast progra m Alternative breakf ast Explore universa l school breakfast Nutrition educati on as part of healt h education School parties/cele brations Fundraising Food as a reward Sale of food at aft er-school activitie s Additional restric tions on vendi 3 http://www.DistrictAdministration.com/DannonInstitute

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - October 2008

District Administration - October 2008
Contents
Editor’s Letter
Letters
News Update
Technology
Facilities & Construction
Inside the Law
District Profile: Englewood (N.J.) School District
Choose to Stay
A Cure for Monolingualism
Virtual Worlds for Educators
DA Web Seminar Leadership Series
School Libraries Renewed
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
New Products
Curriculum Books
Professional Opinion
Calendar of Events
Understanding the Times

District Administration - October 2008