Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation is the third largest urban school district in the state of Indiana with a 50% free and reduced lunch rate. We have been working for the past 3 years to develop some coordinated school health plans for individual schools and want to tell you a little about Plaza Park Middle School’s successes.

With an approximate enrollment of 614 students, Plaza Park is approximately 78% white and 22% minorities. Their Free/reduced lunch rate is 32%. Located in an east-side neighborhood of middle class homes, Plaza has a nice campus with a second gym being built and due to be completed next fall.  The poverty rate, however, does not diminish the need for obesity and overweight prevention, increased physical activity, increased nutrition education and other problems facing young people of today.

In the past two years,  Principal, Mary Schweitzer, school nurse, Tammy Johnson, and the PE teacher, Dale Naylor have been working diligently with community partners on health programs to improve the health of their students and staff. I want to tell you about their walking program begun this past fall and some of their other efforts to date.

It was apparent that kids were getting to school 45 minutes to an hour early. They congregated in the gym either talking with friends, getting into little tiffs that occasionally required intervention, some sleeping and others working on homework; some just sitting and doing nothing. As is the case in most schools today, the staff was looking for ways to increase the amount of time students did some type of movement and this seemed like one of those times that could be utilized.

A local walk/run club was contacted and was willing to sponsor the Step-Up-Club for them and to provide personal journals and some incentives along the way. A large collaborative group, the School-Community Council, was willing to provide pedometers for the students if the school would track some data. When the 2005-2006 school years began they had been able to get around 80 students to agree to walk in the morning and the school nurse would keep track of the mileage for the student incentives.  Quickly those numbers were over 100, then over 150 and today are holding steady at around 200 students walking in the morning club. Some parents volunteered to come and help too.  A lunch time club has been added for those students who arrive later in the morning.

It quickly was apparent that having so many walking the halls would require better supervision, so students in the club made bright yellow badges to hang around their neck to let teachers know why they were walking the halls and students reported to the media center to get their badges and pedometers each morning, five days a week (in better weather, the kids will walk the perimeter of the school grounds. They hope someday to build a walking track.) ;orange cones marked the route and kept the kids on one side of the hallway to keep the traffic from impeding their progress.

The immediate impact was overwhelming to the sponsor in terms of keeping up with incentives so the collaborative group provided more incentives. The students complained about their pedometers not always being accurate, so the collaborative helped them get a number of the more expensive models.

By the end of the semester at Plaza Park Middle School, the principal reported to her Site Council (school and community partners who meet once a month to discuss ways to help the school):

• that discipline had improved, not just a little, but a lot

• that there were fewer referrals to the office

• the nurse reported she was seeing fewer kids in the nurse’s  office with minor complaints

• the teachers said the kids were more alert and ready to learn

• the cafeteria had a 56% increase in the breakfast program

• parents reported positive testimonials to the principal

• students verbalized what they thought about the club:

  • “It’s a good program to help kids get active.”

  • “I no longer forget things. It has improved my memory.”

  • “My legs are stronger.”

  • “My body is healthier and I’m having fun.”

  • It gives me something to look forward to in the morning.”

  • I love the socialization.”

  • I’m awake before I go to class.”

  • I’m exercising now when I normally don’t”.

  • I’m able to talk with my friends while I exercise.”

  • “I have lost weight.”

  • “I am staying active.”

  • “I feel pumped up in the morning.”

  • “I’m ready for the day.”

Some of the teachers have gotten into the walking routine as well and it helps connect them to the students too. Plaza has been able to have and utilize Polar Heart Rate Monitors thanks to grant dollars, some personal exercise equipment has been added to their gym as they are trying to build up a fitness center, and they have been utilizing SPARK equipment and curriculum so that kids are active 99% of the time they are in class.

In addition, the staff filled out a Healthy School Report Card as part of the Coordinated School Health effort. It is much like the School Health Index.  They have offered nutrition education and curriculum guides to the staff to incorporate in their school curriculum; are working with community partners to aid in staff wellness with programs like a staff health fair with screenings in the fall; and they look for ways to promote eating in school and have replaced all items in their concession stands with healthy snacks.