Assembling a School Health Council

Description

Congratulations! You were hired as the School Health Coordinator! Your first task is to assemble a School Health Council (sometimes called School Wellness Committees) at one of the district’s schools. Draft the Council’s mission statement, write a membership recruitment letter, and set a first meeting agenda.

You may work alone or in a group of 2-3 people. If on a team, don’t just divide the work. Do each part together and in order. Parts 2 and 3 don’t make sense unless you’ve done Part 1. And Part 3 doesn’t make sense if you haven’t done Part 2 before it. Submit one document per team with all names on it.

Purpose

To develop the following National Commission for Health Education Credentialing (NCHEC) 2020 areas of responsibility and competency:

• Area V. Advocacy
• Area VI. Communication
• Area VIII: Ethics and Professionalism

To develop the following SOPHE 2019 Health Education Teacher Preparation Standards:

• Standard 6: Professionalism

Procedures

Resources

1. NACCD. (2017). The WSCC Model: A Guide to Implementation. https://www.ashaweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10…
2. The Association for Supervision Curriculum and Development (ASCD). (2016). The WSCC model: Ideas for implementation. http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/siteASCD/wholechild/W…
3. Alliance for a Healthier Generation, Inc. (2013). School wellness committee toolkit. https://www.healthiergeneration.org/sites/default/…
4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2019). CDC Healthy Schools: Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/wscc/index.htm

Part 1: Mission Statement

Before assembling a School Health Council, you should draft your mission statement. You will revise the statement with the council, but having an initial mission statement will drive your focus. The final mission statement will drive all programming and policies (so it’s a big deal!).

Your mission statement should reflect your beliefs about the importance of school health, indicate the role of the WSCC model, and the desired outcome of the council’s efforts. To prepare and to save time, review what you’ve already written in your previous assignments about these topics.

Good mission statements include these four components:

1. Purpose: What purpose will your council serve? What will you need to address?
2. Process: What will your council do to address these needs?
3. People: Who will benefit when the council carries out its purpose?
4. Values: What principles or beliefs will guide your work? What are the council’s values?

There is no wrong or right mission statement. Here are examples. Keep in mind these are for whole schools. You are writing a mission statement for a smaller entity, a school health council.

Part 2: Agenda for the First School Health Council Meeting

Part 2A. Pre-planning

As part of your pre-planning, consider the questions below. Don’t submit your answers. They are just here to help you think about what is important. You will use the responses again in Part 3.

1. Which 4-5 of the 10 WSCC elements will the school health council seek to implement?
   1. Refer to the CDC’s Healthy Schools: Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child webpage. Consider the 4-5 elements you named in the School Health Advocacy Letter.
2. What examples would you like to give that show these 4-5 elements in action?
   1. Refer to the ASCD’s The WSCC model: Ideas for implementation. Consider the examples you gave in the School Health Advocacy Letter.
3. What do you envision as the role of the council in relation to these 4-5 elements?
   1. Refer to the roles of a school health council as described in the Alliance for a Healthier Generation: School Wellness Council Toolkit. Read the “Introduction” and browse the table of contents for ideas.
4. Who will be on the council?
   1. Careful read Step 4, p. 36 of The WSCC Model: A Guide to Implementation. Be strategic about who you select. Consider your mission and what you’d like to accomplish.
5. What do you want to accomplish in the first months? In the first year? You’ll want to preview this at the meeting.
   1. Refer to Step 4 (and maybe Step 5!) of The WSCC Model: A Guide to Implementation. It’s likely you’ll emphasize planning this year and implementation next year.
6. What do you want participants to do after the first meeting?
   1. Refer to Step 4, p. 36 & 41 of The WSCC Model: A Guide to Implementation. Be realistic in the number of tasks and think about who your members are. Each member might have a different role. And think about the selected 4-5 WSCC elements on which you will focus.
7. What will be on the agenda for the next meeting?

Hint: At least one of the tasks should be to discuss the draft mission statement.

Part 2B: Develop the agenda

Using a 2-column table, plan the agenda for your first meeting (~ 60-75 minutes). The first column indicates the time allotted for each activity/part. The second column contains detailed descriptions (i.e. complete sentences; short paragraphs) about what is taking place. Indicate what you and the participants will each be doing. Use the Pre-planning questions/responses above as your outline.

Part 3: School Health Council Recruitment Letter

Write a letter to recruit members to your school health council. Review your mission statement and your preplanning responses to Part 2A. If you haven’t done those steps, do them now! Your letter should be 5 paragraphs long and include these components:

1. An opening statement that captures the reader’s attention and points to the importance of school health (see Part2A, Q1)
2. A very brief overview of what school health councils are and the purpose of this school health council. (see Part2A, Q2)
3. An indication of the types of members you want on the council and why you are requesting this particular reader to be a member of the council (see Part2A, Q3)
4. Information about the first meeting’s agenda, time, and location (see Part 2B)
5. A parting thought to make them want to be part of your council

Tips: Sample letters are in the D2L Sample Work folder. If you haven’t written a business letter in a while, see these tips.

Assignment Submission Directions

1. Remove my directions. Your work should look professional.
2. Include your name at the top.
3. Use Arial, Time New Roman, or a similar font style; use 10, 11, or 12-point font
4. Double or single-spaced is fine.
5. Cite all sources using APA format. Not sure how to do that?
   1. OWL: In-Text Citation Guide
   2. OWL: Reference List Rules
6. Save your file as a .doc, .docx, .rtf, or .pdf. Other formats cannot be opened in D2L.
7. Submit to the appropriate D2L Assignments folder. Emailed assignments are not accepted.