Healthy students

I found out recently about a state mandate our public schools face, and howsome school districts are embracing as a way to fight childhood obesity.

Our Legislature in 2007 passed a law that school districts create "health councils" in each school, comprised of a diverse group of community members. These councils are charged with evaluating schools' health and wellness programs (everything from cafeteria food and PE to anti-drug and health classes) and giving the schools feedback on what's working and what needs to be improved upon. Schools first started doing this last year, but this year they must go through the process again.

These councils include:

- Parents

- Teachers

- Students

- School administrators

- Healthcare professionals

- The business community

- Law enforcement

- Senior citizens

- Clergy

- Nonprofit health organizations

- Faith-based organizations

- Food service managers

I must throw out a disclaimer here ... I'm now working for the Clinton Public School District, and my job is to promote the things the district is doing. But having said that, let me say that I'm proud of how our district is embracing this challenge. Our superintendent, Dr. Phil Burchfield, told me last week that we need to try to get the whole community behind our programs, and encourage parents to teach their children healthy eating and exercise habits. If the district is alone in its work, we won't be nearly as successful. And success in this case means preventing childhood obesity and teaching kids how to live well now -- so that they'll be less likely to be overweight as they reach adulthood.

And that's where the health councils come into play. Schools need to make sure that they're doing all they can to teach kids how to live well. And with the community's help, they can get honest feedback on what's working and what isn't. But more than that, if the members of the health councils see the work that's being done in schools, maybe they'll carry that message over into other areas of the community so that children can learn how to live well for more than just the eight hours a day they're at school.

It's a huge undertaking, but I'm working to get other parts of the Clinton community on board with what we're doing. Most of the community leaders here are also parents (or grandparents) of children in our schools, so they already have a vested interested in the well being of the kids in our district. So please, wish us luck. And if you're a parent or would like to participate on a health council in your school district, give your school principal a call. In Clinton, we're putting together the health councils during the month of November, so the time to get involved is now.

Contact Sandi Beason at (601) 924-7533 or sbeason@clinton.k12.ms.us.