School Health Advisory Board
Virginia Beach City Public Schools
Historical Overview:
In 1992, the General Assembly required each school division in Virginia to establish a school health advisory board. The advisory board should be organized for the purpose of advising its school division about the development and implementation of school health programs, including instruction, the school environment, and actual health services. In Virginia Beach, the inception of the school health advisory board was in 1991, a year before being mandated.
School health advisory boards are to be organized to include no more than 20 people with a broad base of representation including parents, students, health professionals, and educators. It is to include representatives from community agencies, the local school board, school division staff, and institutions of higher education. Membership should be staggered, two-year terms, so that there is board turnover as well as continuity.
Meetings
Meetings are to be a minimum of two, conducted semi-annually. Reports covering concerns for the status and needs of student health in the school division are then to be presented to relevant schools, the school board, the Department of Education, and the Virginia Department of Health.
Meeting Dates for 2007/2008:
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Tuesday, February 28, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
All meetings are held at the Laskin Road Annex, Room 25, located at 1413 Laskin Road.
Membership
Our membership is turned over year-by-year, several members at a time each committing to a two-year commitment. Members have the option of renewing membership up to six years. The board is composed of no more than twenty members and is governed by local School Board Policy 7-27.
Activities, Achievements, and Areas of Interest
Concern and recommendations for improved staffing for the school health offices so as to better serve students’ needs: Clinic assistants were added based on a school’s student population and students’ needs for skilled care (the severity index).
Improving the format for reporting student injuries to the Office of Risk Management: A new reporting form was designed to meet the need of the Office of Risk Management and the school division’s insurance carrier.
A need for information and education on backpack safety: A brochure on how to properly carry backpacks was designed and is now on this Web site.
Support of ongoing efforts to acquire AEDs for the schools: currently there are AEDs in all High Schools and some Elementary and Middle Schools.
Ongoing work to address the issue of obesity in students: In 2004 a plan was set forth that“healthy ideas and suggestions” would be sent in memo form to schools (done January 2005), and that collaboration with the schools’ PTA presidents would continue in order to incorporate parents and families.
What were some of the specific suggestions for schools?: Suggestions and recommendations included offering healthy, nutritious snacks at classroom events and school celebrations, encouraging exercise programs, evaluating the presence of and the access to vending machines, looking at the selections in vending machines, teaching students the need to look at their food choices, publishing “tidbits” of educational, nutritional information in school-to-family newsletters, and moving forward to non-food fund raisers.
Student wellness policy (Policy 5-58) was adopted by the School Board on June 20, 2006. The School Health Advisory Board has looked at this policy and discussed implementation during its first year.
Concern for the protocol ensuring safe and appropriate administration of medications in the school setting: The board reviewed the protocol in place and agreed that it is a comprehensive and safe approach to ensuring the safety and health of students.
What does a school do when faced with a do-not-resuscitate request for a medically complex and compromised child?: As per school board policy and regulation, the schools provide very basic CPR and first aid response. Rescue would be summoned and the family would be notified. However, each situation with such a request would also be treated very individually with both medical and legal advisement.
Has the school division complied with the requirements for having two persons at each site trained in CPR and first aid and for having two persons trained in assisting with the administration of glucagon and insulin?: At the outset of each school year, these requirements are addressed at each school site by the registered nurse and the building principal. By the end of September, the names of the trained persons, other than the nurses themselves, are provided to the Office of Health Services, Laskin Rd. Annex.
Are our schools prepared for mass disasters and large emergency events?: This is an ongoing process. The Office of Safe Schools, in conjunction with other school division departments and city agencies, meet regularly to keep this need in the forefront. Presently the nursing staff is focusing on the role and duties of the registered nurse as first-aid manager in the event of a significantly large emergency.
Pandemic Influenza: In 2006-2007, representatives from the school division participated in the development of a citywide plan to address a pandemic flu outbreak, and the specific role of the schools in the case of an outbreak.
What is the approach of the school division for supporting the health and well-being of employees?: The school division extends to its employees a comprehensive and extensive wellness program, along with access to an Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
Comprehensive School Health Program Includes the following:
Student Health Services On-Site
Nutrition
Physical Education
Health Education
Safe Environment
Counseling and Psychological Resources
Staff Wellness
Integration of Community Resources
Virginia Beach City Public Schools Contacts Eileen M. Horan, Chair Person, and Coordinator of Health Services eileen.horan@vbschools.com
