Healthy schools

Children and youth need healthy places to live, to play and to go to school. Schools have an important role to play in providing a safe environment with opportunities for physical activity and eating nutritious meals and snacks.

What you can do MEASURE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT Find out what your carbon footprint is and reduce it! Walk or bike your child to school Too many cars around schools can create pollution from car exhaust and a traffic safety hazard for students. SUPPORT "GREEN INITIATIVES" Transit, parks, open space, and mixed use development can all help people be more physically active

	School siting The determination of where a school will be located in relation to the community it serves; has tremendous impact on students, teachers, families, neighborhoods and the learning environment.
	Access to healthy foods Schools with a healthy nutrition environment provide dynamic settings, such as a school gardens can, that foster improved student health. Students who participate in school garden projects discover fresh food, make healthier food choices, and are physically active. Teachers say and research shows that students who plant and harvest their own fruits and vegetables are more likely to eat them. The literature supports the role of environment-based education in academic achievement and also finds that nutrition education and nutrition programs that are linked to school gardens improve academic achievement.
	Physical activity Safe Routes to School initiatives focus on the barriers to making walking or bicycling to school safe and feasible options for children. The movement is based on the documented decrease in the number of children who walk or bike to school since the 1970s and at the same time, the significant increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity in today's youth. Public Health staff work with partners through coalitions, workgroups and advisory boards to improve access to Safe Routes to School programs and resources. For example: Public Health participated in the Seattle Department of Transportation’s efforts to develop the Seattle Pedestrian Master Plan. The Plan prioritizes pedestrian and safety improvements around schools. Public Health staff provide leadership to the Puget Sound Regional Council Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee and participate on the Regional Staff Committee
	Schools and air quality While school buses are the safest way to transport children to and from school, diesel exhaust from idling school buses can accumulate on and around the bus and pose a health risk, particularly to children: About 6.3 million school aged children have asthma. Asthma is the leading cause of school absenteeism due to a chronic condition. Diesel exhaust contains significant levels of particulate matter - a significant health risk. Particulate matter can pass through the nose and throat and lodge in the lungs, cause lung damage and premature death, and can make asthma and bronchitis worse. According to the EPA, diesel exhaust is likely to cause cancer in people. Exhaust levels on school buses are more than eight times the average levels found in the ambient air. Exhaust also lingers and then enters the school with the students through school doors and windows. Exposure is compounded when all the buses are at the school dropping off and picking up children. Public Health - Seattle & King County's school program reviews and approves new school sites and plans for public and private schools kindergarten through high school grade

• Seattle schools approve policy on water quality
  After months of deliberations, the Seattle School Board approved a new policy to ensure all schools have some of the cleanest school drinking water in the country — at a total cost of more than $12 million over the next three years.
  
  
• Safe Routes to School: Practice and Promise
  This publication is designed to provide enough information about SRTS programs so those in decision-making positions will be able to determine how to allocate scarce resources and to assure positive outcomes from SRTS efforts. It delves into the history of SRTS, considers risks and benefits, offers examples, and lists supportive agencies and organizations.
  
  
• The Link Between Nutrition and Cognitive Development in Children, Policy Statement (PDF). Center on Hunger, Poverty, and Nutrition Policy. Medford, MA : Tufts University School of Nutrition Science and Policy, 1994.
  
  
• State Study Proves Physically Fit Kids Perform Better Academically, California Department of Education, Sacramento CA, 2002.
  
  
• Why Safe Routes to School Matters (video)
  Developed by the National Center for Safe Routes to School, the video highlights why the United States has seen a decrease in walking and bicycling to school, the consequences of this decrease and the ways Safe Routes to School are a part of the solution.

• Washington State University Square Foot Nutrition Project - Tacoma
  Garden-enhanced nutrition education.
  
  
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
  Tools and resources to calculate greenhouse gas emissions, strategies at home and work, strategies for transportation, and information on the science of climate change.
  
  
• Puget Sound School Gardens Collective
  Helping youth in the Pacific Northwest grow through gardening.
  
  
• Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides
  Information on hazards of pesticides to children, pest control alternatives, model policies, and information on how to take action for change at their schools.
  
  
• Building Schools, Building Communities: A Forum on the Role of State Policy in California (PDF)
  A forum designed to open a needed dialog and critical discussion on the massive and growing investment in public school construction funding in California, where more than $30 billion in state bonds has been passed over the past five years.

• The Edible Schoolyard
  School garden project at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, CA. Site offers "How to" tips, activities and lesson plans for the kitchen and classroom.
  
  
• Kidsgardening.org - Helping Young Minds Grow
  Site includes how-to resources, funding opportunities, resources, curricula, projects and activities, and resources for parents.
  
  
• Smart School Initiative
  The Smart Schools Initiative is a multi-partner, national effort designed to bridge the movements for education equity and for smart growth. It aims to build healthier, more sustainable communities, especially for our most vulnerable children.
  
  
• New Schools, Better Neighborhoods
  This organization promotes the community joint use of schools by way of designing smaller school facilities that can build upon and accommodate existing community land and facilities to save on the time, money, land, and other resources used to duplicate functions elsewhere.
  
  
• Travel to School National Household Traffic Survey (PDF)
  The National Household Travel Survey released January 2008, describes how travel to school has changed dramatically over the last 40 years.
  
  
• Healthy Schools Campaign
  An independent not-for-profit organization that addresses issues of environmental health and wellness in schools.
  
  
• The Center for Cities and Schools
  The Center's mission is to promote high quality education as an essential component of urban and metropolitan vitality. Their approach is through interdisciplinary research, professional education, and collaborative practice.
  
  
• Active Transportation/Safe Routes to School
  Many schools in King County are trying to increase the number of children who safely walk and bike to school. Only 13 percent of all trips to school are made by walking and biking.
  
  
• The Quick & Easy Guide to Green Cleaning in Schools
  The updated, expanded second edition includes new sections on sustainability, green cleaning for food service, integrated pest management, new technologies and more..
  
  
• Pest control in the school environment
  The public's concerns about health and environmental risks associated with chemicals are increasing, particularly when children are involved. As the public becomes more aware of the health and environmental risks pesticides may pose, its interest in seeking the use of equally effective alternative pest control methods increases.
  
  
• Reducing Pesticide Exposure at Schools, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
  Pesticides play an important role in food supply protection and disease control, but they can also be harmful to human health.