About Healthy School Environments

Follow these four steps to create a healthy school environment in your school.

1. Establish a Coordinated School Health Team in your school.
2. Complete the Healthy School Action Tools Assessment.
3. Use the HSAT Assessment results to develop your school's HSAT Action Plan to make policy and environmental changes.
4. Join state and local coalitions or other health/wellness organizations.

1. Establish a Coordinated School Health Team in your school.

This can be a newly created team, an existing team such as a School Health Council, or a new subcommittee of your school's management council, sex education advisory committee, or staff wellness committee. Choose people whom you think represent your school and community. It is strongly recommended that your team include an administrator, a physical education teacher, the health education teacher, your school nurse or other health services provider, a parent, the school food service manager or director, and the school counselor, psychologist or social worker. Other key people on your team may include: classroom teacher (other than physical education or health), family representation (parent/guardian, PTSA/PTSO member), community-based health care provider, high school student, school board member, family resource center staff, Safe & Drug-Free Schools coordinator, comprehensive school health coordinator, director of before/after school care program, athletic director, building engineer/custodian, coach, or playground/recess supervisor, pediatrician, dentist, registered dietitian, law enforcement agencies and/or representative from a community health organization such as the Health Dept., MSU Extension, Heart Assoc., Cancer Society, civic or business leader.

Health and success in school are interrelated. Schools cannot achieve their primary mission of education if students and staff are not healthy and fit physically, mentally, and socially. The National Association of State Boards of Education

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2. Complete the Healthy School Action Tools (HSAT) Assessment.

To complete the Healthy School Action Tools ASSESSMENT, take a few minutes to register. All Michigan schools* are invited to register and complete the HSAT.

The Healthy School Action Tool (HSAT) Assessment was developed to help Coordinated School Health Teams assess whether their school environment offers consistent messages about the importance of key health topics (asthma management, healthy eating/nutrition education, physical activity, social and emotional health, tobacco-free lifestyles, violence and injury prevention) AND opportunities for students to make healthy choices.

The HSAT Assessment consists of eight separate modules; each corresponds to one of the components of a Coordinated School Health Program, and all follow a similar format. Prior to the Assessment meeting, assign modules to team members with special consideration to their areas of expertise (for example, the physical education teacher might be asked to review Module 3 and come prepared to offer insight into that topic). Each module contains questions for your team to answer about the module topic; responses result in points. Next, your team has the opportunity to brainstorm "Your Bright Ideas" to capture key thoughts before moving on to the next module. An automated score card is provided as you work to enable your school to compare itself to the total possible points.

For a more detailed description of the HSAT Assessment, please visit the About the Healthy School Actions Tools page.

*If you do not represent a Michigan school or if you would like to review the HSAT and associated materials, please visit the Preview the HSAT section of this website to access a printable version of the HSAT that is similar to the online tool.

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3. Use HSAT Assessment results to develop your school's HSAT Action Plan and make policy and environmental changes.

Identifying strengths and need areas via the HSAT Assessment is important for targeting the areas where changes may have the biggest impact. However, your school environment will improve only if you take action and make changes. Your online HSAT Action Plan provides planning and monitoring tools to assist you in moving forward; the online Action Plan becomes available as soon as you complete your assessment. For a more detailed description of the HSAT Assessment, please visit the About the Healthy School Actions Tools page.

Actions that support policy and environmental change generally have more impact and are more long lasting than single events. However, a series of events that support an overall goal can also make a difference. The chart below provides some examples and characteristics of events vs. policy/environmental changes.

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4. Join state and local coalitions or other health/wellness organizations.

• Michigan Action For Healthy Kids (www.actionforhealthykids.org) is a statewide coalition whose mission is to engage schools in earnestly providing a healthy environment where children learn and participate in positive dietary and lifestyle behaviors and practices. The Coalition has chosen three goals to pursue:
  
  
• Ensure that healthy snacks and foods are provided in vending machines, school stores and other venues within the school's control.
• Encourage all children, from pre-kindergarten through grade 12, with quality, daily physical education that helps develop the knowledge, attitudes, skills, behaviors, and confidence needed to be physically active for life.
• Increase consumption of healthy food choices and increase participation in physical education and physical activity among students.

To join Michigan's Coalition go to www.actionforhealthykids.org and click on Michigan under "State Teams." After registering you will receive information via email about upcoming meetings.


• Michigan Team Nutrition is a national USDA initiative designed to motivate, encourage, and empower schools, families, and the community to work together to continually improve school meals and to make food and physical activity choices for a healthy lifestyle.
  

• Enrolled Michigan Team Nutrition schools can apply for grants, learn about the nutrition/literacy link, and receive free resources. More than 800 schools are enrolled in Michigan Team Nutrition.
• Sign up to be a Michigan Team Nutrition School by visiting www.tn.fcs.msue.msu.edu and selecting "How Your School Can Join."
  
  
  
• Michigan's Safe Routes to School program is a state coalition and steering committee that provides leadership for all aspects of the program. The purposes of Safe Routes to School programs are:
  
  
• To enable and encourage children, including those with disabilities, to walk and bicycle to school;
• To make bicycling and walking to school a safer and more appealing transportation alternative, thereby encouraging a healthy and active lifestyle from an early age;
• To facilitate the planning, development, and implementation of projects and activities that will improve safety and reduce traffic, fuel consumption and air pollution in the vicinity of elementary schools.

A federal Safe Routes to School program was authorized as part of the surface transportation bill signed into law in August 2005. As a result, every state now has dedicated dollars to help with infrastructure improvements (e.g. new sidewalks and traffic calming projects) and non-infrastructure activities to encourage and enable students to walk and bicycle to school. To register your school or learn about schools in your area go to: www.saferoutesmichigan.org.


• Michigan Asthma Coalitions: There are 11 local asthma coalitions in Michigan. An asthma coalition is an organized group of people from a community or area who have an interest in improving the lives of local people with asthma. These people, or stakeholders, can include physicians, health plans, school staff/nurses, people with asthma and their caregivers, and anyone else with an interest in asthma. All of the coalitions welcome new members.

Find an asthma coalition in your area by visiting http://www.getasthmahelp.org/UserCoalitionList.asp

Get the facts on asthma in Michigan schools by visiting http://www.getasthmahelp.org/intro_schools.asp


• Community Tobacco Coalitions: There are 62 tobacco reduction coalitions in Michigan. The purpose of the coalitions is to prevent and reduce tobacco use among community members and decrease exposure to secondhand smoke through policy and environmental change. Click here for a listing of community tobacco reduction coalitions in Michigan.

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