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From the Desk of the President and Executive Director
Dear Members:
We hope you have had a great few months since our Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. On behalf of the Executive Committee and Staff, we would like to thank all of those that contributed so much time and effort to making the meeting a success, including Helen Leonard and Ruth See in the office as well as the Professional Development committee, chaired by Derek Irion.
As promised, we have been working hard to set the Society on a strong path towards sustainability—and we have a lot to share! Over the past few months, our branding initiative has been moving forward and we look forward to presenting a new visual identity to you this fall. We would also like to thank each of the committees for working quickly on the request to review and update your operating codes. The Executive Committee is reviewing these and expects to adopt them soon. Finally, two ad-hoc groups of Past Presidents have graciously agreed to work on two tasks: the first is drafting the Society’s response to First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move Initiative and the second is a review of the Society’s constitution and by-laws. All in all, thanks to your hard work and dedication, it has been a very productive few months.
Together with Past President Lynn Hammond and President-Elect Antionette Meeks, we hold weekly check-in calls that have been a valuable opportunity for the four of us to work together, troubleshoot, and celebrate successes. Additionally, the entire Executive Committee continues to meet monthly by conference call to keep us moving forward. Last month, we also introduced a monthly check in call of the Leadership Council; this meeting of the chairs and chairs elect of all our committees, plus the Executive Committee and staff has been a great tool for communicating everyone’s needs, accomplishments, and challenges across the Society. Also, the Society’s first Treasurer, Grant Scheffer, has visited the Society office in Reston and is working closely with the staff on a budget and fundraising strategy.
Late this August, the Executive Committee, staff, and committee chairs will meet in Little Rock to complete some projects related to our two Cooperative Agreements as well as have a discussion about the strategic direction of the Society. This meeting will represent a shift from the Applied Strategic Planning meeting we have had in the past due to the response from CDC’s concerns to cooperative agreement funding. We hope to present the results of this meeting to you in the Society’s first ever virtual meeting—a webinar that we will invite you to attend in October.
Finally, we encourage you to read this newsletter carefully to learn about our efforts to finalize MTC II as well as the latest on our advocacy efforts.
As always, our “virtual” doors are open to you.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Courntey and Patricia Anderson
Society Happenings (Patricia Anderson)
This June marks the anniversary of employment for both Kyle Lafferty (one year) and Helen Leonard (11 years!). The Society is grateful to these two fantastic women for all of their hard work and dedication.
Advocacy Corner - Introducing SHAC
An organizing committee comprised of leaders from ASHA, AAHE, NASBE, NASPE, NASP, NASN, the Society, and NASBHC convened in early March to discuss the future of Friends of School Health. With the assistance of an outside facilitator, the organizing committee has determined a statement of purpose and new name for this coalition.
A coalition of national organizations, the Student Health Advocacy Coalition is dedicated to the health and well-being of 90 million school age students. In the months ahead, the SHAC organizing committee will be working to develop an operating agreement, recruit member organizations, and launch with a face-to-face meeting in Washington, DC on September 15.
PEP Coalition
The Society is a member of the PEP Coalition, formed by NASPE and the SGMA to advocate for the protection of PEP funding in the reauthorization of ESEA.
The Society is also a member of an ESEA Action Group. We are working to include health and physical education as core content areas in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (previously known as NCLB). This work is in collaboration with AAHE, NASPE, ASHA, and SOPHE and is an ongoing effort. Stay tuned for additional details as this legislation comes together. In the meantime, we encourage you to view the US Department of Education’s ESEA Blueprint at: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint/publicationtoc.html
Coordinated School Health Update (Jackie Sowers)
Be a part of Making the Connection II:
We are happy to report that the best-and-final draft of Making the Connection II: Health and Student Achievement is nearly ready to send to CDC-DASH, thanks especially to the jet-propulsion of our new Executive Director, our EC and LC leaders, and our design team, Paras Productions! We think you will like the final version!
Currently we are rapidly moving ahead with the establishment of our Work Group to develop the supplemental materials to accompany Making the Connection. The Society would like to invite those who are interested to become part of a work group charged with developing supplemental materials for the Making the Connection II: Health and Student Achievement project.
We are very excited to develop the tools that support the Making the Connection II (MTC II) PowerPoint. These tools will be posted on a special pilot web page of the Society website. Although there are several facets to this project, the first two supporting materials that we would like the work group to start working on are:
- A one-page fact sheet for each of the eight components of a Coordinated School Health model
- A list of links to resources (e.g. CDC Healthy Youth! information sheets, the Health Standards links, or favorite reference materials)
- A listing of organizations that support the CSH philosophy (e.g. ASHA's Council on Administrative Support)
If you are interested in serving on the MTC II workgroup to develop these materials please let Helen Leonard know via phone or email, by Thursday, July 1. We would like to have the first group conference call on Thursday, July 8 where you will be paired up with one or two people to select the CSH component you would like to work on and given further instructions along with a template from which to work. The time line for developing these materials is July 8 – August 16.
MTC II is an exciting and long-anticipated educational tool that will help raise awareness of the links between health and student achievement. Our goal is to have the MTC II pilot web page (with fact sheets and links to resources) ready to go when the MTC II PowerPoint is through the CDC clearance process. Future supporting materials will include tip sheets and instructions on ways to use the MTC II PowerPoint with various target audiences.
We hope you will volunteer to assist with this important effort. We want the materials to have the unique flavor and experience-based wisdom of our members, especially YOU!
H Have You Checked Out the 2009 YRBS Yet? The eagerly awaited Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) results for 2009 are out! CDC-DASH has just gotten better and better at reporting the data in a variety of useful ways. As they say, it’s “new and improved” and “customizable.” Go to http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/yrbs/index.htm to see the variety of postings available. I think you may be surprised! For example, check out the new Youth Online and the Data Widget sections. I am especially impressed with the “Healthy Youth! Student Health and Academic Achievement” fact sheet and related links (a perfect companion piece to MTC II!). It can be accessed at http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/health_and_academics/index.htm
PE PEPGrant Applications Are Out
Out June 18, DUE July 19! That’s not much time to get your Carol M. White Physical Education Program (PEP) proposal in! The good news is there’s lots of help available to assist you in developing a winning proposal! The grant applications and Notice of Final Priorities can be found at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/fr-cont.html (go to the “Education Department” section). Information about the grant can also be found at http://e-grants.ed.gov/egPackages.asp?APP=EA. Good luck!
Hi Highlights from Kevin Jennings’ Keynote at the June NCCSHS Meeting
Patricia Anderson and I attended the National Coordinating Committee on School Health and Safety (NCCSHS) conference in Crystal City on June 3, 2010. A highlight of this excellent conference was the presentation by Kevin Jennings, Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education, Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, USDOE. It was heartening to hear this USDOE official speak so passionately about the importance of health and safety to the academic and life success of youth. He described the Safe and Supportive Schools (s3) Model his office advocates as part of the school reform agenda. The s3 Model includes three components: Engagement, Safety, and Environment. Engagement is concerned with relationships, respect for diversity, and school participation. Safety addresses emotional safety, physical safety, and substance use. Environment includes the physical environment, academic environment, wellness supports, and disciplinary environment. It was so good to hear this leader, who has the ear of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, speak eloquently about these elements of the coordinated school health philosophy! He urged us to fight the good fight to include them in our national, state, and local school reform efforts, reminding us that what gets measured is what gets done. Jennings concluded with the observation that what we need are robust technical assistance initiatives around the key question “What affects students’ ability to learn?” Society members can surely speak to that!
C What's Happening in HIV News? (Kyle Lafferty)
Congratulations to everyone involved in planning the wonderfully successful Regional Conference on HIV/AIDS/STD’s and Human Sexuality: Finding the Pulse on HIV, held June 9-11th, 2010 in Kansas City, MO. Sponsors included the Colorado Department of Education, Iowa Department of Education, Kansas State Department of Education, and Missouri Department of Elementary & Secondary Education, Nebraska Department of Education, and Wyoming Department of Education, Kansas Department of Health & Environment, Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services, Region VII U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Public Health & Science, Office on Woman’s Health.
Th The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) is pleased to announce the release of the 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance MMWR Surveillance Summary and the 2009 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data! Visit our website at www.thesociety.org to read more.
Th TheNational Stakeholders Collaborative, a partnership between the Society, the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP), the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS directors (NASTAD), and the National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD) recently completed onsite action planning sessions with members of State Education and Health Agencies in Texas and North Dakota during our National Stakeholders Meeting 2.0. Please visit www.thesociety.org for more information.
Welcome New Society Members!
Kelly Alley, CDC/DASH
Lori Benson, New York City Department of Education
Penny Block, Independent School District, Spring, Texas
Mark Bloodworth, Tennessee Department of Education
Marjorie Cole, Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services
Joseph Dake, University of Toledo
Nancy Dube, Maine Department of Education
Suzanne Hidde, OSPI, Washington State
Dean Hopper, New Mexico Public Education Department
Rebecca Johns-Wommack, Tennessee Department of Education
Dolly Lambdin, The University of Texas at Austin
Rebecca Lemmons, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare
Scott McQuigg, HealthTeacher
Nancy Ray, Alabama Department of Education
Judith Sipowicz, Maine Department of Education
Sean Slade, ASCD
Sandy Tibke, North Dakota Department of Public Instruction
Howell Wechsler, CDC/DASH
Greg Williamson, OSPI, Washington State
M
Reminder: Renew Your Society Membership
Renew your membership today by visiting the Society website at www.thesociety.org, or mailing a check to the Reston office at 1900 Association Drive, Suite 100, Reston, VA 20191. Please make checks payable to “SSDHPER.” Dues for Regular members (those employed by state education departments) are $70.00; Associate members pay $50.00; and Retired members pay $35.00.
Make plans now to attend the Society Annual Meeting in San Diego
March 23-25, 2011
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