School Health Index
The School Health Index is a self-assessment tool developed by the CDC. The SHI will enable each school to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the school's policies and programs for promoting health and safety. It also helps the school to develop an action plan for improving student health and safety as well as to involve teachers, parents, students, and the community in improving school policies, programs and services.
There is growing recognition of the relationship between health and academic performance so your school's results from using the SHI can help you include health promotion activities in your overall School Improvement Plan.
The first step toward a healthier and safer school is to identify a team of people who will be responsible for completing the SHI. Key people who should be included on the team are:
Principal, PE Teacher, Classroom teacher(s), School Food Service Manager, Parent(s), Student(s), School Nurse, School Counselor, School Resource Officer, Coach, etc. Once you have your team in place, you need to schedule your first meeting. Each school has a SHI notebook which contains everything you will need to complete this process. Please make copies of the pages and do not mark on the original pages out of the notebook since this is an ongoing process. (If you cannot find your notebook, let me know and we can get you another one.)
All the Healthy School Teams should be meeting monthly. After each meeting you should fax me a copy of your sign-in sheet and minutes. My fax number is 625-3421. You should continue working on the School Health Index, completing any modules that you have not already completed. If you have completed them all, you should go back and re-visit each module periodically. Things always need to be kept up to date.
If you have any questions please feel free to call me at 623-1528.