|
Parents, your SHAC needs you
By Julia Hatcher
Contributor
Published November 7, 2009
What is a school health advisory council? Created by the Texas Legislature to ensure that school districts across the state meet the health and safety needs of our children, it is an advisory group comprised of individuals who represent various segments of the community.
The Galveston group acts collectively to provide advice to the Galveston Independent School District on aspects of the school district’s health program. The GISD SHAC is made up of parents, community members, and school staff working together to improve the health of all students and families through coordinated school health programs.
By law, a majority of the members must be parents of students enrolled in the district, and who are not employed by the district. The GISD School Health Advisory Council works with the district to help school communities support good health and academic achievement. SHAC members are appointed by the board of trustees, and must report to them at least once annually.
What does SHAC do? Research shows that healthy children do better in school — from attendance and behavior, to academics and overall performance. The SHAC has a variety of roles addressing all components of a comprehensive school health program. The components that we look at include child nutrition, physical education, health and safety, school counseling, health and sexual education curriculum and health promotion for staff.
We meet at least four times annually, and visit all the schools twice a year in order to give them a “checkup.”
SHAC provides advice to the board of trustees, and makes recommendations that the members feel should be implemented at the schools.
For example, two years ago we recommended to the trustees that each campus employ one full-time nurse, and they agreed.
In addition, SHAC has made many other recommendations, including what types of food should be served at the schools, the reduction of physical-education class sizes, and the importance of daily recess.
SHAC is a very important tool that allows parents the ability to get involved, and the ability to make changes that are beneficial to the health and safety of our children.
The GISD SHAC is up and running, but we need more parent members in order to comply with state law. Our next meeting is scheduled for Monday, at 6:30 p.m. in the GISD annex on Avenue T½. Please make plans to attend.
Richard Rupp serves as the group’s chairman, Suzanne LaForte serves as vice chairman, and I serve as secretary. For more information on SHAC, and to inquire about membership, please contact Jennifer Douglas, GISD’s director of child nutrition, at jennifer_douglas(at)gisd.org or Sandra Howell, the district’s athletic director, at Sandra_howell(at)gisd.org.
Julia Hatcher is the secretary of Galveston SHAC.
Share |
Save |
Mail |
Print |
Letter |
Comment
|
|
|
