Should the Department of Ed take the lead when it comes to health-at-school?

HealthinSchools Roundtable

Should the Department of Ed take the lead when it comes to health-at-school?

by jglear

04/27/2011 3:40 PM

I’m beginning to understand – not to agree with, but understand – the silence attending the “restructuring” of CDC DASH. It turns out that some long-time DASH supporters believe that the new, slimmed-down DASH will offer “new opportunities” yet to be defined. For me, the reasons for optimism remain unclear.   

What I know is that the leading federal organization that championed a comprehensive vision of school health – healthier meals in the school cafeteria, more physical activity, beefed-up health education for students, environmentally healthy school buildings, school nurses and school-based health centers – has been diminished. And its supporters have gone silent.    

Do these recent developments suggest that when it comes to health-at-school, the US Department of Education should take the lead at the federal level? While ED has not had a prominent role in policies related to school-connected health programs in the past, maybe this is a time for the agency to re-think its role. What do you think?

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the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools

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Comments (8)

Comments

04/27/2011

While the reorganization of CDC DASH is worrying it does place more onus onto educators and schools to truly adapt to align health and education across the school setting. ASCD's Healthy School Communities recently put out a monograph (http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/siteASCD/publications/Aligning-Health-Education.pdf) outlining the need for education to take a lead role and set out steps - or 9 levers - that help move towards this alignment.

If one truly believes that schools are there to prepare our youth for society then one must also appreciate that this means preparation not only cognitively, but also socially, emotionally, mentally and physically.

Sean Slade

04/27/2011

I fully agree with what Sean said and I know that lots of educators, especially younger educators, are very interested in the concept of addressing the whole child in the setting of the schools. I had the experience to hear from about 300 Teach For America corps members and alums a few months ago and they definitely want to help make this connection.

The big question is how do we get the school health community to be viewed as an essential contributor to overall education reform efforts. If ED is to take the lead on this on a federal level will the overall model get lost in the scale of the organization?

Steve north

04/28/2011

I too am worried about the loss of leadership at CDC on school health and the impending vacuum at the federal level. Yes the US Department of Education should take on a more central role in leading the dialogue and maintaining the best practices for school health. But they cannot do it alone! We do need to mobilize partnerships at the state and local levels to give volume to the Dept. of Education leadership and demonstrate that there is a constituency of partners across schools, education, and communities ready to work on our shared vision. The School Based Health Center community stands ready to work across departments, sectors, and silos. In Michigan, we are already working together!

Michele Strasz

04/28/2011

Sean and Steve, Thanks so much for the comments and here's a question back to you and all colleagues in the field. If school health programs and services make critical contributions to students' school success, how do we persuade education leaders get out in front on these issues? t

Julia Lear

04/28/2011

If the intention of increasing the role of the US Dept of Education is to garner more "buy in" from school officials related to health then this could be a positive. But ONLY if actual health professionals are in the lead roles and not Education staff assigned the responsibility of health as an adjunct role. Sadly this is the case in many situations and health is an ancillary thought rather than an integral component of care in schools.
Eva Stone, APRN

Eva Stone

04/28/2011

Hi Julia

The new early childhood effort expanding RTT to include funding from USDHHS and HUD is an essential and hope filled development. This place based approach recognizes that it is not the job of schools alone to address issues and that we need to address the environments where children live too. Changing the environments to support youth must be driven by local ledership.

Rosemary Reilly-Chammat

04/28/2011

Rosemary, great to hear from you. A “place-based” focus makes good sense. Glad to hear about the early childhood success. A focus on place was a major theme of the first school-based health centers. As Phil Porter, one of the field architects, liked to remind his audiences – “adolescents don’t carry appointment books and school is the only place where they are required to spend time.” Focusing on ‘place’ remains a promising strategy.

Julia Lear

05/01/2011

As an aside, school based health centers are not to be confused with school nurse services. The latter being something Michgian has less of than every other state in the union.