minutes of physical education per
week? Do you have breakfast and lunch
programs? and Do you offer health
screening for all staff?
The CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior
Survey that the schools administered in
2007 had some eye-opening results.
Among other findings, it showed that
approximately 11 percent of students
rarely or never wore a seat belt when
riding in a car driven by
someone else; that 29
percent of students had
recently ridden in a car
driven by someone who had
been drinking; that 35
percent had been in a physical fight during the 12
months before the survey;
that in the previous 30 days,
14. 5 percent had seriously
considered suicide; and that
before the age of 13, 14
percent of students had
smoked their first cigarette,
24 percent had tried alcohol,
8 percent had used marijuana, and 7 percent had had
sexual intercourse.
The more teachers
value health, the
more their classroom
practices support
student health.
A District Success Story
The CDC’s Division of
Adolescent and School
Health selected Gibson
County Special School District in
western Tennessee as one of six districts
across the United States that has an
outstanding coordinated school health
program. One of the 10 original pilot
districts in Tennessee, the school district
includes nine schools, with a total
enrollment of 3,425 students in grades
preK– 12.
All Gibson County students explore
health concepts and develop health-promoting skills as their schools follow
the Michigan Model, a comprehensive
school health education program that is
currently being implemented in 30 U.S.
states as well as in several foreign
countries.
Many other programs in Gibson
County enhance the health education
curriculum. For example, school nurses
teach 5th and 6th graders about
changes occurring during puberty.
Tennessee’s National Guard Counter-drug Task Force facilitates a 14-week
life skills program to reduce drug use in
middle schools. A community partner,
Right Choices of West Tennessee,
provides a youth development program
to help middle school students refrain
from engaging in risky behaviors. In
collaboration with numerous community partners, each school hosts a health
fair.
In addition to providing physical
education to all county students,
elementary schools participate in the
Blue Cross Walking Works for Schools
program, which requires students to
walk at least 5 minutes every school day
for 12 weeks each semester. Five
schools incorporate Wii Fit,
Wii Yoga, and Wii Sports
into their after-school
programs. Other elementary
schools use PlayStation 2
and Dance Dance Revolu-
tion to increase physical
activity. Middle school and
high school students as well
as adults can use the ACES
challenge ropes course.
Several activities reinforce
positive dietary choices in
the cafeteria—for example,
Nutri Notes newsletters for
students and parents, nutri-
tion bulletin boards, and My
Pyramid posters, which
remind students ages 6–11
to be physically active and
make healthy food choices.
A registered dietitian works
with healthy school teams to
develop individualized
nutrition plans for students or staff
members needing assistance in this area.
School nurses organize student health
screenings for vision, hearing, scoliosis,
and body mass index. School staff
members receive free health screenings,
which address weight, hearing, vision,
body mass index, blood pressure,
cholesterol levels, blood glucose levels,
blood iron levels, and bone density.
They also receive professional development about first aid/CPR and blood-borne pathogens, such as hepatitis B
and HIV/AIDS. The county is moving
toward establishing a school-based
