Dealing with Pushback

Creating a healthy school that serves nutritious meals, teaches children about healthy eating, provides lots of opportunities for physical activity and offers access to health care services doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and dedication, but the long-term investment is huge. When kids are healthy, they excel in school. When employees participate in wellness programs, they are often more productive and take fewer days off.

Taking a coordinated approach to creating a healthy school simply makes good sense. But some may question efforts or priorities. The fact is that for every barrier, there is a solution. And one of our top priorities is keeping kids and staff healthy!

Among the most common issues that arise:

• Lack of funding. School district budgets are stretched thin, especially during challenging economic times. Fortunately, many of the action steps in this guide are inexpensive and provide a huge return on investment that focuses on a school district’s main mission: student achievement. Check out district and school profiles for examples of how administrators revamped their budgets to support health and wellness.
• Competing demands. School districts are under more pressure than ever to get results, and with good reason. The focus on improving academics competes for time and money, leaving health and nutrition issues behind. A coordinated approach to healthy schools should not compete with academics; instead it should be viewed as one of the key levers to advance student performance. Consider this: 86 percent of Colorado voters support requiring 30 minutes of physical education each day in schools — even if it meant time was taken away from other subjects. (Source: 2009 poll commissioned by the Colorado Health Foundation)
• Low on the priority list. Some may not view nutrition and health as part of the school district’s mission. The reality, however, is that it’s hard for students to concentrate on their studies if they haven’t eaten a nutritious meal, can’t see the chalkboard or aren’t coming to school because they don’t know how to manage a chronic disease like asthma or diabetes. According to a 2009 poll commissioned by the Colorado Health Foundation, 80 percent of Colorado voters believe that as students become more physically fit, their test scores increase and discipline problems decrease.
• Inadequate space. Some school and district leaders say they struggle with where to place students — let alone room for a nurse’s office, a gym or a kitchen. Yet schools from Grand Junction to Broomfield are using creative approaches and partnering with local recreation departments and parks to build gymnasiums that are large enough to meet everyone’s needs. Some high schools are now offering high-quality, standards-based online courses in physical education.
• “Kids won’t eat it!” Some may worry that if they swap out popular but less healthy snacks and sugary drinks for fruits, vegetables, trail mix and bottled water, they’ll lose revenue. Healthy snacks and sugar-free drinks give students the energy they need for school, sports and after-school activities. And students and staff buy them — especially when those are the only options! Nearly 80 percent of Colorado voters believe it is “very important” for schools to encourage healthy food choices, according to the Colorado Health Foundation poll.
• “I don’t matter.” It’s easy to put ourselves second when our first priority is the students we serve. But research shows that employee wellness programs result in positive outcomes for adults — and, ultimately, students. Healthy school employees are absent from work less often, more productive and likely to have lower health care costs. They also are positive role models for their students.