School Health Coordinators Make an Impact

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Submission Date: December 2009

State/Territory Submitted on the Behalf of: Maine

States/Territories Involved: Maine

Domain Addressed:

Environmental Approaches

Public Health Issue:

  • Many Maine students donā€™t eat recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables daily or reach recommended levels for physical activity. About a quarter of high school students are obese or overweight and over twenty percent of them use tobacco.
  • Promoting healthy eating, physical activity, and tobacco cessation through better school health policies and practices improves the outlook for prevention of chronic diseases caused by poor health habits.

Program Action:

  • Forty-two school health coordinators have been funded in Maine schools as part of a statewide network of community and schools coalitions known as Healthy Maine Partnerships. Coordinators are responsible for implementing the Maine Coordinated School Health Programs (CSHP) initiative, a joint collaboration between the Maine Departments of Education and Health and Human Services to improve school health programs, policies, and services.
  • Researchers from the Maine-Harvard Prevention Research Center evaluated the changes in policies and individual health behaviors occurring in local education agencies comparing those with funded school health coordinators to those without coordinators.
  • The evaluation was made possible through funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Adolescent and School Health and from Maineā€™s Tobacco Settlement monies as part of CSHP collaboration with the Healthy Maine Partnerships.

Impact/Accomplishments:

Results from local education agencies with school health coordinators:

  • Increased time for regular physical activity for K-8 students in more than seventy-fiveĀ percent of local education agencies
  • Increased walking and fitness programs for school staff and community members
  • Implementation of policy changes that improved more than one aspect of school nutrition,Ā such as eliminating soft drinks and other foods of minimal nutritional value from vendingĀ machines in all districts
  • Passage of tobacco-free school campus policies in all districts
  • Leveraging of additional resources for improving school health, including more than fiveĀ million dollars for physical activity and nutrition programs
  • Greater likelihood of having physical activity intramural offerings, improved nutrition offerings,Ā and tobacco cessation programs
  • Decreased soda consumption, decreased tobacco use, and less inactivity.

Program Areas:

Healthy Communities (general), Social Determinants of Health, Tobacco

State Contact Information:

ME
Judi Morin
Maine Department of Education
207-624-6696
judith.morin@maine.gov

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