May 2009

Augusta County School Health Advisory Board (SHAB)

Annual Report – 2008-2009

1. Background

In accordance with the Code of Virginia 22.1-275.1, the Augusta County SHAB continued to operate during the 2008-2009 school year. During this time, SHAB meetings were attended by 19 individuals that reflect broad-based community representation, including parents of school-age children currently enrolled in Augusta County Schools, physicians, public health professionals, school nurses, youth service coordinators, law enforcement professionals, and Administrators from the Augusta County School system. Members include the following individuals, listed in alphabetical order.

  • Abernathy, Ron; Health/P.E. Curriculum Supervisor
  • Albert, Mary; School Nutrition Program Dietitian for Staunton, Augusta, and Waynesboro Schools
  • Appl-Walsh, Chris; Guidance Counselor
  • Austin, Debby; Parent/Rehab & Disability Professional
  • Bond, Eric; Administrator, Central Office
  • Caulkins, Pat; RN/WOW Youth
  • Coffin, Rebecca; RN/Parent
  • Gunther, Robert; MD – Pediatrics
  • Hawkins, Diane; Virginia Department of Health/Parent
  • Larsen, Doug; MD, Director – Central Shenandoah Health District
  • McQuain, Kathy Stout; Assistant Director, Augusta County Parks and Recreation
  • Meeks, Kara; Nutritionist, Augusta Medical Center
  • Moore, Lynn; MD - Family Practice
  • Neff, Sandy; Augusta County Schools, Nutrition Coordinator
  • Newman, Ginny; Central Shenandoah Valley Office on Youth/Parent
  • Ross, Barbara; RN, PHN, Virginia Department of Health
  • Schuldt, Susan; Health Services Coordinator
  • Shields, Marc; MD – Ophthalmology; Parent
  • Stegura, Doran; MSPH/Parent (SHAB Chair)

*Note: This list generally reflects those individuals that have participated in the SHAB meetings during the 2008-2009 school year. This list is subject to change based on participation during the upcoming 2009-2010 school year and/or requests by individuals to be added to or removed from the list of SHAB members.

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During the 2008-2009 school year, the SHAB held meetings on September 23, 2008; November 18, 2008; January 20, 2009; March 17, 2009, and May 19, 2009. During the course of these meetings, a number of issues were discussed, including school nutrition (menus and vending), teen driver safety, and outreach to the community. Section 2 below, summarizes the issues addressed at the SHAB meetings during the 2008-2009 school year. Section 3 outlines issues that may be addressed (including upcoming events and goals) for the 2009-2010 school year.

2. Accomplishments and Issues Addressed during the 2008-2009 School Year

Section III of the Virginia Department of Education’s SHAB Annual Report Form (Attachment A to Adm. Supt. Memo No. 18) requests information on the goals and accomplishments of the SHAB in several areas, including health services, health education and instruction, healthy environment, physical education, nutrition services, counseling, staff wellness, and parent/community involvement. During the 2008-2009 school year, the Augusta County SHAB has addressed issues primarily in the areas of physical education, nutrition services, and parent/community involvement (particularly with regard to potential improvements to outreach and education on teen driver safety issues).

2.1 Physical Education

In the March 2008 meeting, it was noted that four Augusta County schools have received Governor’s Score Card awards. However, Ron Abernathy reported to the SHAB that the one area that Augusta County schools lack on the Governor’s Score Card is the requirement of daily physical activity. The SHAB has previously stressed the importance of expanding time-duration physical activity at the schools, particularly at the elementary and high school level. This is an important issue and goal that the SHAB will continue to discuss.

Ron Abernathy shared that the district goal is that all schools have a Wellness Committee. At the November 2008 meeting, Jackie Hartley from Stewart Middle School provided an overview of their Wellness Program. In an effort to fight childhood obesity the staff is attempting to lead by example, make changes in the school nutrition plan, add movement to every class, and increase the amount of physical activity offered to each child. SHAB members will continue to evaluate this issue and explore options for encouraging the development of these Wellness Committees.

Recommendation: SHAB members recommend that the School Board expand physical education in the schools, so that all students have daily physical activity, particularly at the elementary and high school level.

2.2 Nutrition Services

Menu/Vending Analyses

The multi-year grant for Improving Children’s Nutrition through Professional Guidance, issued by the Augusta Health Care (AHC) Community Health Foundation, has continued to provide support for a Registered Dietitian to work with and analyze menus of the 3 area school divisions. Mary Albert and Pat Caulkins have continued with nutritional analyses of the school menus and vending machine choices, providing periodic updates to the SHAB. Sandy Neff has documented significant improvements to the School Nutrition Program over the past three years, including progress towards the elimination of trans fats and reduction of fried foods from school menus; she has provided regular updates to the SHAB in this regard. Efforts to reduce saturated fat and sodium levels in school menu items are ongoing. SHAB members discussed the status of the multi-year grant (i.e., it is expiring next year) and continuation of the shared dietitian program post-grant. Members generally agreed that having a shared dietitian has been a great asset to the School Nutrition Program, helping to identify specific areas for nutritional improvement throughout the Augusta County School system. As such, SHAB members feel that it would be important to continue funding for this position.

Recommendation: SHAB members recommend that the School Board approve continued funding for the shared dietitian program, Improving Children’s Nutrition through Professional Guidance, when it is up for renewal in the 2010 – 2011 school year.

Food Policy for Classroom/School Events

The SHAB discussed issues regarding food safety and quality outside the context of cafeteria food and a child’s individual lunch – i.e., food brought by students and/or parents from home for classroom parties and events. The main issues discussed in this context included whether students should be allowed to bring in any type of food into the classroom for special events and whether there should be specific policies or controls related to bringing outside food items.

Issues that may need to be addressed include:

1) potential problems with food safety (e.g., salmonella, food allergies), which could lead to specific adverse health effects; and

2) poor food quality (e.g., soda, fast food), which can contribute to childhood obesity and is often inconsistent with dietary limitations parents have set for their own children.

It was noted that food brought in for classroom events should be limited to fresh foods (e.g., grapes, vegetable trays) or prepared and/or packaged items (e.g., juice, baked chips, pretzels, etc.) that meet school health guidelines or FDA approved nutritional guidelines.

Recommendation: SHAB members suggest that the issue of bringing outside food items for school parties or events be addressed in the form of guidelines or a specific policy that would help prevent any potential health or safety problems associated with food items brought by parents and/or students (and address parental concerns regarding poor food quality).

School Fundraisers

SHAB members also discussed the issue that many school fundraisers are currently promoting the sale and consumption of unhealthy food items, such as pizza, cookie dough and candy. Pat Caulkins compiled some updated information and presented this information on alternative fundraisers to SHAB members, which will be distributed and/or presented to PTAs and other fundraising groups. SHAB members agreed that these alternatives should be promoted.

2.3 Parent/Community Involvement

SHAB members have continued to discuss ideas for outreach. SHAB members have contacted local YMCA’s and Augusta County Parks and Recreation in an effort to expand membership. In addition, improvements have recently been made to the SHAB website, which now includes a brief description of the SHAB and the Wellness Policy along with a statement on how parents and community members may become involved in the SHAB. The site now has its own link within the ‘Central Office’ tab on the main website. SHAB members continue to consider ways to encourage participation.

One important issue that the SHAB has chosen to address during 2008-2009 is teen driver safety. SHAB members have explored existing programs (i.e., drivers ed) as well as options for expanding safety training and/or parental involvement in drivers education programs. Gary Hudson, retired State Trooper and defensive driving instructor, attended the January 2009 SHAB meeting as a guest speaker. He provided statistics about driving accidents and fatalities in Augusta County and asserted that many of the fatal accidents in the county involved failure to wear a seat belt. Mr. Hudson suggested that schools could reinforce the seat belt law by restricting driving privileges for noncompliance in school parking lots.

Doris Brown from Partners for Safe Teen Driving attended the March 2009 meeting as a guest speaker. According to the Partners for Safe Teen Driving website (see: at least 41 school divisions and communities in Virginia have partnered to develop Safe Teen Driving programs, and about 10 communities now require parents of teen drivers to attend a mandatory meeting during which they receive information about Virginia's graduated licensing procedures, current driving techniques, procedures for helping teach their children to drive, curfew restrictions, and other useful information. Ms. Brown provided an overview of this program for SHAB members and volunteered to assist as needed with program implementation. She noted that although initial feedback from these programs were positive, specific data or statistics that document the success of this program (in terms of reduced accidents and associated injuries/fatalities following program implementation) were not yet widely available. Some SHAB members felt strongly that this type of program should be implemented and provided some suggestions regarding grant money that could be used, while others recommended that the program be evaluated further prior to making any decisions regarding implementation.

During the May 2009 meeting, SHAB members voted to recommend that the Partners for Safe Teen Driving program be implemented at one or two high schools as a pilot project. SHAB members also agreed to continue to evaluate possibilities for funding through grants or other means (e.g., Office on Youth, Rotary Club, etc.) that could be used to help with any program implementation or administrative costs (note that the educational materials for this program may be obtained without cost through the Partners for Safe Teen Driving program). SHAB members agreed that no additional funding or money would need to be requested from the School Board and that the increase in the administrative burden would most likely be minimal.

Recommendation: SHAB members recommend that the School Board review and evaluate the Partners for Safe Teen Driving program and approve the implementation of a pilot program at two county high schools.

2.4 Other Issues

In addition to the issues and initiatives summarized above, SHAB members have continued to discuss a variety of other issues. SHAB members have received regular updates from the Health Services Coordinator, Sue Schuldt, on issues such as clinic staffing, infectious disease prevention efforts, flu shots, and medication policies. Other data that is potentially relevant to SHAB activities were also shared throughout the year, such as statistics on the rise in teen pregnancies as well as the increase in the incidence of childhood diabetes within Augusta County. Sue Schuldt also reported that clinic aides and/or nurses have recently increased their communication and outreach efforts for students diagnosed with diabetes and that this has helped these students manage their condition and set goals for dietary and behavioral improvements. One issue that was raised at the May 2009 meeting was the problem of prescription drug abuse and the potential need for additional outreach and educational programs that would target not only students, but parents and other family members as well. These outreach efforts may help prevent further abuse by raising awareness and improving efforts by parents and/or caregivers to keep dangerous medications in a secure location. SHAB members will continue to discuss these and other issues and data as it relates to improving the health of all Augusta County students.

3. Goals and Objectives for the 2009-2010 School Year

As with the previous school year, the SHAB will hold four meetings. There are a number of potential goals and objectives that the SHAB may address during the 2009-2010 school year. These include the following:

  • Collect and maintain updated information on all SHAB members and continue to explore options for encouraging and expanding membership.
  • Continue evaluation of school lunches, vending machine options, and fundraising efforts so that additional nutritional improvements can be identified.
  • Initiate evaluation of pharmaceutical drug abuse in Augusta County Schools and explore options for addressing this growing problem.
  • Continue evaluation of the Wellness Committee at each school and discuss options for supporting and expanding these committees (i.e., help ensure that each school has an established Wellness Committee). Encourage one individual from each Wellness Committee to serve on the SHAB.
  • Continue to explore options for expanding physical education so that all students, particularly at the elementary and high school level, have daily physical activity.
  • Continue to evaluate implementation options for the Partners for Safe Teen Driving program and explore grant options to help facilitate program implementation.

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