A food service representative, school nurses and physical
education and health teachers continue to meet to brainstorm ideas
that will prove beneficial to keeping school-aged children
healthy.

The Healthy Kids Initiative group, which formed in the 2004
school year, was designed to encourage healthy eating habits and
wellness programs in schools for children.

Voluntary committees have been formed in both George G.
Blaisdell and School Street elementary schools. The committees will
work to keep in progress new ideas to promote healthy
lifestyles.

“I am just thrilled about the enthusiasm and response we’ve had
with this,” said P.J. Leonhardt a certified school nurse.

The effort, explained Leonhardt, is not meant to target
overweight children but to promote wellness.

At the start of the school year, nurses started testing the Body
Mass Index (BMI) of children by putting numbers into a formula that
includes their height and weight.

The testing is mandated by the state.

If the results show the child to be considered obese or has the
potential to become obese, according to standards provided by the
state, a letter will be sent home to parents suggesting they seek
medical attention for the child. This step could be considered
precautionary as it is an attempt to prevent any number of problems
from developing in overweight children.

According to a report provided by Pennsylvania Advocates for
Nutrition and Activity (PANA), problems overweight children face
include a higher risk for major chronic disease, including diabetes
and cancer. Skeletal and muscle problems are also known to develop
in obese people and lower self-esteem and cardiovascular disease
can also become a factor.

The report also said that physical activity can be linked to
stronger academic achievement, increased concentration and improved
test scores in some areas.

Already at GGB, children begin their days with an action song
which may include the “Chicken Dance” or the “Hokey-Pokey.” School
Street students will now be participating in the same way at their
school.

Other proposals include encouraging children to walk after
lunch; to try the fruit and vegetable offerings in the cafeteria;
and naming every Friday “Fitness Friday” with a wellness theme.

For the younger kids, fruits will have been started in the
peeling process to make the healthy treats more accessible, or cut
if needed.

There will also be a scheduled “Walk to School Day” when each
school will plan a way to have children walk, whether it is to the
Bradford Area High School track from School Street, or to have the
buses drop children off near GGB and let them walk the rest of the
way.

Another idea is to name a fruit or vegetable of the week and
have children learn about it and conduct activities that include
that food.

This information was provided by P.J. Leonhardt, who offered
notes from the last meeting of the group. There were no Floyd C.
Fretz Middle School representatives on hand at that meeting, but
they are participating as well.

At the high school level, technical education teacher Bob
Neumann said many of the students are excited to participate in
some way. A proposal to make two minute dance videos is in the
works through senior projects.

The videos may contain dances such as the Chicken Dance, the
“Macarena,” “YMCA” and “The Twist” to be played each morning the
schools. For older students, dances such as the “Electric Slide”
and the “Cha-Cha Slide” could be put on video.

Also being considered are 10-minute age appropriate
aerobic-movement, exercise videos that teachers could use when they
choose.

Another suggestion includes airing an obesity video on WOWL TV,
Channel 13, during weekends for parents to view and children to
participate in.

Jon Hackett, general food manager of food services for Sodexho,
the company hired by the school district, is working to provide
healthy snacks at lunch time, three times per week at the
elementary schools, and providing healthy snacks at least one time
a week at the middle and high schools.

In the spring of 2005, they had already supplied healthy snack
choices to students at the elementary school level, adding in the
past the addition had been successful.

“This is about promoting wellness. We don’t want to single out
any children,” said Leonhardt. “We want the children to be aware
that wellness is important.”

The Healthy Kids Initiatives group plans to give a presentation
to the school district at its November meeting regarding BMI
testing.