The Whole Child

YES

Thanks for taking the time to Grade Your School and Community with our web-based tool.

Congratulations! We're delighted your school has a School Health Advisory Council (SHAC), which is an important step toward educating the whole child.

New Question:

How effectively is your Council working?

Take a look at descriptions of high-functioning SHACs and sample policies here:

1. http://www.actionforhealthykids.org/pdf/MichiganFieldReportFINAL.pdf
2. http://www.schoolnutrition.org/Index.aspx?id=1076

ASCD's Healthy School Report Card Action Tool provides a template for evaluating your SHAC, addressing essential functions and criteria. The action tool is available for purchase and download at www.healthyschoolcommunities.org.

Thank you for taking a stand to support the whole child in your school or district! Please e-mail us at wholechild@ascd.org if we can further support your efforts.

NO

Thanks for taking the time to Grade Your School and Community with our web-based tool.

We're sorry to hear that your school does not have a School Health Advisory Council (SHAC), although you might want to double-check. SHACs are known by different names. Yours might be called a School Health Council or Committee, Community School Health Council, or school Wellness Team.

Having an SHAC is an important step toward educating the whole child. SHACs include representatives from the school staff, students, families, business, and the community who advise districts or individual schools on their school health programs. More than a dozen states require or encourage districts to have SHACs. SHACs organized on the Coordinated School Health Program model include representatives of eight school health components: comprehensive school health education, physical education, school health services, nutrition services, counseling and social services, healthy school environment, school health promotion, and family and community.

Federal law requires all districts or education agencies that participate in federal school lunch or child nutrition programs to create and implement a school wellness policy. As a part of that policy, districts are required to have a Wellness Team, or district-level SHAC, to develop the policy. The policy should include goals for nutrition education, physical activity and overall student wellness; nutrition guidelines for food available on school grounds; plans for evaluating and following the wellness policy; and community participation, including parents, students, school board, school administrators, school food service staff, and the public.

The new ASCD Healthy School Communities Action Tool provides a step-by-step guide to establishing an SHAC in your district or school. This action tool is available for purchase and downloading at www.healthyschoolcommunities.org. The new ASCD Whole Child Action Tool provides a step-by-step guide to establishing an SHAC in your district or school. This action tool is available for purchase and downloading at www.healthyschoolcommunities.org.

The American Cancer Society's Web site offers information on School Health Councils and resources for setting up a council.

Action for Healthy Kids has an online tool for creating local wellness plans.

Thank you for taking a stand to support the whole child in your school or district! Please e-mail us at wholechild@ascd.org if we can further support your efforts.

I DON'T KNOW

Thanks for taking the time to Grade Your School and Community with our web-based tool.

To find out if your school, in fact, has a school health advisory council we thought the following background might be helpful.

School Health Advisory Councils (SHACs) include representatives from the school staff, students, families, business, and the community who advise districts or individual schools on their school health programs. More than a dozen states require or encourage districts to have SHACs. SHACs organized on the Coordinated School Health Program model include representatives of eight school health components: comprehensive school health education, physical education, school health services, nutrition services, counseling and social services, healthy school environment, school health promotion, and family and community.

SHACs are known by different names. Yours might be called a School Health Council or Committee, Community School Health Council, or School Wellness Team.

Federal law requires all districts or education agencies that participate in federal school lunch or child nutrition programs to create and implement a school wellness policy. As a part of that policy, districts are required to have a Wellness Team, or district level SHAC, to develop the policy. The policy should include goals for nutrition education, physical activity and overall student wellness; nutrition guidelines for food available on school grounds; plans for evaluating and following the wellness policy; and community participation, including parents, students, school board, school administrators, school food service staff, and the public.

Many districts and schools make their wellness policies and contact information for their teams available on their Web sites. If your local policy is not available online, ask your school principal or district office where you can view it.

Thank you for taking a stand to support the whole child in your school or district! Please e-mail us at wholechild@ascd.org if we can further support your efforts.