Miami-Dade Fuels High-Performing Students

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1 Miami-Dade Fuels High-Performing Students Miami-Dade County Public Schools is the fourth largest school district in the United States, comprised of 372 schools, with 350,000 students and over 50,000 employees. The school district stretches over 2,000 square miles of diverse and vibrant communities ranging from rural and suburban to urban cities and municipalities. A truly global community, district students speak 56 different languages and represent 160 countries. We are more similar than we are different. When Miami-Dade was recruited to join the Alliance s Healthy Schools Program in 2007, efforts to improve wellness had already begun. The district wellness policy prohibited carbonated drinks, but otherwise schools were working on wellness in silos. Asking a district this large and diverse to work on anything in a cohesive fashion is a challenge. However, the Healthy Schools Program provided Miami-Dade district-wide goals and customizable strategies to achieve them. We had always been committed and worked hard to create a healthy environment. Joining forces with the Alliance provided us with a fantastic opportunity to support those at our school sites with energy and vision and to integrate all the work we were doing in the cafeteria, with fundraisers, with physical education, said Penny Parham, administrative director for food and nutrition services. The combination of the guidance and the goals allowed us to link everything together, while providing enough flexibility and individuality to let schools focus on their strengths. If the wellness champion was a home gardener, he could teach nutrition education with a school garden. If the champion was a runner, she or she could start an afterschool running club. Building on the passions of individuals helped achieve buy-in and advance wellness districtwide. Jackie House, vice chair of the district wellness committee, expanded, We are all doing the same thing. Even though our neighborhoods are different and our socioeconomic status might be different, we still have the same tile in each library, and the same color paint on the walls. The policy is the same. We just have to realize that. The Healthy Schools Program gave us what we needed. Parham can t say enough about all the tools and resources the Healthy Schools Program provides. There is a terrific website, specific nutrition guidelines for all foods sold in schools, and so many tools to help our schools implement the strong, broad wellness policy we have developed. For me the Alliance s Product Calculator for Smart Snacks has been one of the most helpful things! Instead of folks asking me, they can easily identify products that meet their needs right on the Calculator. House agreed, There s advice on how to set up bulletin boards, sample s to faculty, content for school newsletters, all in an easy-to-use format. It was overwhelming until we started to take advantage of those resources. The national reach of the Alliance has also been a huge benefit. Having President Clinton behind our issues has really helped move healthy environments forward. And we loved that the Alliance brokered a national agreement with the American Beverage Association. That has

2 helped us keep a national focus, she said. The Alliance has helped us to prove that this is not only the right thing to do for kids, it is the smart thing to do business-wise too. It has to be all about the food. Nutrition services for Miami-Dade rivals many large chain restaurants. The district operates over 340 food service operations, with a budget of over $189 million, which includes breakfast, lunch, afterschool snacks and dinner programs, Saturday and summer meal services. In the school year alone, they served more than 50 million meals! Parham has dedicated years to developing a formula that allows her to sell healthy meals and snacks and balance her budget. Our meals have to be healthy, but they also have to taste good. Parham is quick to tell you change won t happen overnight: We have a chef partnership, a food truck, we do students taste testings, and all sorts of promotions. Kids want good, clean food they can eat and enjoy. It has to be kid-friendly. But at the same time, it is up to us to understand and find out what that is. Then make it work in our program. She added, You can sell a healthy meal and get your reimbursements. Cash sales are still food sales. It s ok for kids to buy something extra, but where does it say that extra food has to be a cookie and a bag of chips? For our kids it doesn t have to. When they buy something extra, it can be a chicken wrap, or a fruit salad, or a yogurt parfait. School food programs can still make cash sales, they just need to sell good, healthy food! For the district, a focus on healthy, reimbursable meals has been a smart business decision. Even though cash sales from à la carte foods are down about $17 million over the last 10 years, revenue from reimbursable meals is up over $27 million that s a $10 million shift. And for the school year, meal reimbursements are up 11 percent mostly due to higher sales of school breakfasts and afterschool snacks and a six-cent meal reimbursement increase for districts meeting updated federal nutrition requirements for healthy school meals. Parham said, This year, our costs did go up we bought and served more food! We spent $5.5 million on produce. But we wrote smart bids and brought in enough revenue to cover all our expenses. Nutrition services also spent more on labor costs, but with great outcomes. The program created jobs and improved retention of existing employees. We hired more food service employees and invested more dollars in training all our employees. We try to engage them on every level and acknowledge and recognize their efforts. We want them to be well trained and to understand the reasons behind the changes. The result of our investment was we actually had less turnover this year! We had accomplished something no other wellness program had in Miami-Dade. School staff wear many different hats. They are educators, they are mentors, and they are leaders to the students they serve, but rarely are they the focus of efforts in the school buildings. Recognizing the importance of staff and the need for healthy role models is something the Healthy Schools Program and Miami-Dade have in common. We allowed schools to work on whatever component of the program they wanted. Ninety-nine percent wanted to focus on staff wellness, recalls Healthy Schools Program Manager Cindy Hughes. This turned out to be a major key to success for the district. Once the teachers and staff were focused on their own health, they began to understand its importance for their

3 students as well. They would have Zumba classes afterschool and help each other stick to their healthy eating plans. It was a great bonding experience for the staff. Hughes even remembers one principal who began walking the campus before school. The next thing you knew, it was a school-wide initiative, started with just a principal as the role model for students and staff. As a result of the emphasis on staff wellness, the district is embarking on a new initiative to incentivize employees who manage their health. With rising health care costs for the districts 44,000 employees, Miami-Dade s risk management team was looking for a way to keep free employee health care benefits available. In collaboration with the district s health care task force, medical advisory board, and employee union, a new plan was developed to promote prevention for employees receiving health benefits. Any employee who registers online and completes specific preventative health requirements is eligible for free employee healthcare. In this way, the district can maintain the benefit for employees, while managing health risk factors and health care costs. If you make health fun, then everyone will want to support your efforts. Encouraging physical activity is serious business for the district as well. Physical education is required at age-appropriate levels for all students and physical activity is encouraged for students and staff. Schools are given the flexibility to determine how best to meet these goals. North Beach Elementary School started a running club to get kids active before the school day starts. About 75 students and their families participate in running drills, laps around the schools, and various sports activities twice a week at 7:15 a.m. We have a core group of that come every time, said Michele Rivera, wellness champion and physical education teacher for the school. Students are increasing their fitness ability and are more focused academically. Regular participants are recognized for their academics and running improvements with a trip to the local cross fit gym a highlight for Rivera and her team! Rivera credits the recognition from the Alliance as the motivator to start the club. When we had the ability to be recognized, it was more motivating; we wanted to do more. We thought, what about a morning program? The wellness council at Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High is improving energy and fitness levels for students through lunchtime physical activity breaks. They offer numerous challenges during lunch such as hula hooping and jump roping and give out apples and bananas for prizes. This fun strategy to reach the teenage audience actually resulted in a decrease in major behavior problems. Lunch breaks are a period that kids start to get bored and get in trouble, explains Liz Morgan, activities director for the school. We noticed the first week we began [the lunch activities breaks], we had zero behavior problems, and so we decided to continue. Another physical activity initiative the school has started since partnering with the Healthy Schools Program are philanthropic-themed 5K races throughout the school year such as for the American Heart Association and breast cancer awareness. They are school-wide and we tie them into physical education classes, so as part of the class, we are getting them prepared to complete the 5Ks, said Morgan. In a diverse school like Dr. Krop, with all socioeconomic backgrounds and a one-third split between White, African-American, and Hispanic students, one interesting result has been

4 improved relationships between the student populations. The 5K races definitely bring groups together. When we start the training, you see the little cliques, but by the race, you will see a much broader group of kids together, said Morgan. We found ways to raise funds without selling unhealthy foods. Fundraising efforts for Miami-Dade look completely different now as well. At Glades Middle School, the PTA has implemented district wellness policy (and Healthy Schools Program) standards and completely revamped food fundraisers. Sales of sugary beverages were replaced with sales of 100 percent fruit juice. Candy sales were eliminated. The PTA even began working with a local healthy pizza chain to provide pizza with whole grain crust, natural ingredients, and low-fat cheese. Morales calls the changes a success: I see just as many students standing in line to buy healthier pizza as I did before! The Glades PTA also focuses on non-food fundraisers. We do a lot of "dress up" days like all white to support the Miami Heat, jeans day, and sports team day. We have memory and yearbook sales, as well as Valentine's Grams students buy and give to teachers and/or classmates. We also have the Hallowdance and the Valentine's Day dances to raise funds, said Morales. At North Beach Elementary School, physical activity is incorporated in fundraising through dances and an annual walk-a thon. The PTA makes upwards of $15,000 on the walk-a-thon, said Rivera. Other successful non-food fundraisers for North Beach include flower sales, jewelry sales, bazars, and silent auctions. It didn t happen overnight. Rivera stressed, You can t make changes quickly. It takes a little while and a lot of effort to make a culture change. The Alliance has given us the tools to start and helped people in the district want to make changes. We have the diligence to keep it going and to keep up our enthusiasm. With the district s Cadre of Coaches, a term they use to describe their strongest wellness champions, continuing to strive for excellence, change has happened in Miami-Dade. According to the 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Survey of middle and high school students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools, students are watching less TV on school days, engaging in more physical activity, and consuming less sugar-sweetened beverages. A 2012 School Health Profiles survey of school principals found that over 80 percent of principals in the district are conducting self-assessments of school policy, activities and programs for nutrition and physical activity a critical step towards improvement. In terms of the Healthy Schools Program, 77 schools in the district have received 113 National Healthy Schools Awards from the Alliance! Miami-Dade County Public Schools is also receiving national attention and proving that healthy students are high-performing students. The district is widely considered the nation s highestperforming urban school system, and was named as the 2014 College Board Advanced Placement Equity and Excellence District of the Year as well as the 2012 winner of the Broad Prize for Urban Education.

5 Students have shown steady advancements in standardized testing in reading, writing, math, and science. All grade levels continue to improve academically and in many cases are experiencing gains much greater than those seen in other schools in the state. This year, high school students improved math and science end-of-course exam scores, outpacing the state average from 2013 to Elementary and middle school students surpassed their counterparts statewide, and in other large districts, on reading and math assessments; the percent scoring high also met or exceeded that of students statewide in all grades four through eight. The level of writing improvement for students in grade eight was twice that seen statewide. The district s third grade students are leading the state in math scores! This is our contribution to making our schools a better place, Even with a strong, comprehensive policy in place, Miami-Dade continues to strengthen its efforts. We discuss the policy in the wellness advisory committee and make recommendations to the downtown administration and regional superintendents. Nearly everything we have achieved happened because we were able to incorporate the Healthy Schools Program Framework of Best Practices, said House. We have passion for what we do and we enjoy it. It s not just a hobby. This is something we believe in.