Teachers lead by healthy examples

Sherry Collum (center), a first-grade teacher at Clinton Park Elementary, stretches her arms and back during a yoga session .

Clinton Park Elementary speech therapist Kristi Crisler wants to be a really big loser.

That's in weight, not in personality.

She and many of her fellow teachers and staff at the school for grades K-1 are front and center in a district-wide push to promote proper diet and exercise habits and healthy living - and perhaps to lose weight along the way.

Crisler has lost 12 pounds through exercising both at school and at home and tweaking her eating habits to include more healthy foods.

"We have been trying to reduce calories and eat healthy foods, reduce our portions, and exercise at least four to five times a week," often by walking and using exercise videos, said Crisler, in her first year at Clinton Park.

Candice Taylor, who teaches special-needs first-graders and is one of Crisler's exercise buddies, likes to move to a legendary exercise guru.

"I'm a Richard Simmons fan," Taylor laughed. "Kristi won't do it with me."

At the beginning of the semester, 45 Clinton Park teachers kicked off a weight-loss competition, with some signing up to lose weight and others to give moral support. That number has decreased to 33, but to date, they've lost overall a little more than 146 pounds.

Like on the television show The Biggest Loser, the competition is based on the percentage of body weight lost.

"The kids see us exercising and talking about it," said Taylor, at Clinton Park for 11 years. "We are pumping each other up. The students ask us about it, and now they're cheering us on."

The teachers meet after school to walk, do yoga, aerobics and other exercises. They weigh in every week.

Taylor has lost a little more than 12 pounds.

"I'm not even halfway to my goal. It's gotten harder," she said. "I do this a couple of times a year, but never more than six weeks. I've never dieted and exercised together."

Of course, Taylor and Crisler don't want to reveal their beginning weight.

"Kristi and I are roommates at Clinton Park, so we have been supporting each other," Taylor said.

"I'm not giving up anything, but I'm doing a point system for foods. I do try to eat the healthy things and lay off the chips and candy bars."

Their competition began when they returned from Christmas break.

Said Crisler: "It definitely has been hard, especially to keep motivated at this stage of the game. I've been surprised that I'm still going at this point. Usually, you burn out after about a month."

One of the teachers' in-school exercises definitely involves the students. Each morning before school, they dance in the halls.

"We do it five minutes before the bell rings" at 7:45 a.m., Taylor said. The song selections include the hokey pokey, the chicken dance, the macarena and the Cuban shuffle.

"They do it to get their blood flowing and their brains moving. They love it," Taylor said.

It's a contest Clinton Park Principal Suzanne Hollingshead hopes will show the students a fun way to eat right and to exercise regularly to improve their overall health.

"If we take a child through our district and give them a top-quality education, if that child is obese they may not be able to hold a job because of health problems, or they may die at a young age," she said.

"What good will we have done if we haven't helped our students learn and maintain a healthy lifestyle? With these initiatives, we are reaching every child in our district.

"We know it's a big goal, but we are taking baby steps."