The American School Health Association welcomes you to our blog. The purpose of the blog is to provide an opportunity for dialogue on health and safety-related issues that affect children and youth in grades pre-k through 12. Just as the American School Health Association is a multidisciplinary organization, this blog can bring to bear on such issues the perspectives of many who influence the health and safety of young people – including but not limited to administrators and policy makers, teachers, nurses, physicians, mental health providers, food service providers, safe and drug free schools coordinators, school resource officers, students, and their families. Please take a moment to review the ground rules for our blog.

This blog differs from our list serves, which are for members only. It differs from our peer-reviewed Journal of School Health in that issues that are new and emerging often have not had the solid research needed for a journal article, but readers can gain insights from the experiences of one another. It differs from the official position statements found on our web site in that postings have not gone through a vetting process and the ASHA Board.

As a blog of an association, not an individual even the initial postings will present a variety of voices. We welcome comments from anyone in response to a posting following the ground rules of the blog. Any ASHA member may submit an item for an original posting to swooley@ashaweb.org.

The breadth of school health and safety is so large; it is often hard to know where to start. I had a call recently from a physician who wanted to help the schools in his area address childhood obesity, but he did not know where to start. When I asked what they were doing already, he had no idea. I see this all the time Do you know if the school district where you live has a health or wellness advisory council? Do you know what programs and services the schools already have in place? Everyone wants what is best for young people, but few stop to ask: “What do children and youth think they need from adults?” Many want to work through schools, but few ask: “What are the schools already doing?” What has been your experience as a student in being heard? as someone working in a school in having offers of help? as someone in the community in working with schools?

Looking back on the past school year, what have been the toughest health and safety issues you have faced? What successes have you had? How are you planning for the next year?

Thanks for your interest in this blog. Feel free to respond and share your ideas, your successes and challenges. Don’t forget to indicate your title and position.

Posted by Susan Wooley, Executive Director of the American School Health Association.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 20th, 2007 at 3:47 am and is filed under Administration & Policy, Family & Community Involvement, Food at School, Health & Safety of Employess, Health Conditions & Issues, Mental Health, Nursing & Medical Issues, Physical Activity, Physical Environment, Teaching About Health & Safety. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.