Stories tagged: student health
Pregnant and parenting teens
Posted in April 2010 Edition | Permalink
An estimated 10,000 to 12,000 Philadelphia teenagers are mothers. According to Project U-Turn, about 70 percent are not likely to graduate due to demands of raising children, finances, lost academic time, and lack of child care.
The District and its Project U-Turn partners have countered these challenges with several strategies, including a public awareness campaign, programs with more flexible academic scheduling, on-site child care programs, and teen parent classrooms in 27 schools designed to help students graduate and transition to a career.
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Fairhill visit spotlights healthy eating plan
Submitted by Wendy Harris on Sat, 02/20/2010 - 18:22 | Permalink
Fairhill Elementary School eighth graders Kendall Barrott and Gregory Leach shifted with excitement in their seats in the school cafeteria as they waited for First Lady Michelle Obama to take the stage.
Obama visited the North Philadelphia school Friday to discuss her “Let’s Move” initiative, a nationwide campaign to prevent childhood obesity.
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PCCY gets big response to 'Give Kids Sight Day'
by Ruth Rouff Posted in February 2010 Edition | Permalink
Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PCCY), a local child advocacy group, held its first annual Give Kids Sight Day November 21. The event, co-sponsored by Eagles Youth Partnership, was held in response to reports from school nurses that some students who had failed eye exams were not getting follow-up care.
According to PCCY, in the 2007-08 school year, 63 percent of the 22,000 children that failed the school vision screening did not see an eye doctor afterward.
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More behavioral health programs
Posted in Winter 2009 Edition | Permalink
Here is a listing of additional behavioral health services available to District students. For more information, call 215-400-4170 or go to http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/offices/s/oss.
Consultation and Education (C&E) specialists
Offer school-based short-term (120-day) case management, emergency response support, consultation, and limited group work (see Eye on special education).
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Immigrant students and their mental health
Submitted by Gustavo Martínez on Thu, 12/10/2009 - 15:38 Posted in Social justice in education | Permalink
Last week several Asian students were attacked in South Philadelphia High. They have complained that school and District authorities haven't responded to their concerns sufficiently.
The relevance of caring for these students' needs is highlighted in the work of Eileen Gale Kugler and Olga Acosta Price in their report "Helping immigrant and refugee students succeed: It’s not just what happens in the classroom," in which they stress the need to provide newly arrived children and their families with the culturally competent assistance they require.
This is the first part of a series of postings in which we will talk about these issues. Check for a follow-up soon.
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New program, planned for 20 schools, will be citywide
by Dale Mezzacappa Posted in Winter 2009 Edition | Permalink
Superintendent Arlene Ackerman has embraced the framework known as Positive Behavior Supports (PBS) as an approach to improving school climate in Philadelphia, embedding the program in her strategic plan, Imagine 2014, and decreeing that all schools adopt its key elements.
This is both good news and bad news for the people who have worked the hardest to bring PBS to the city since even before Ackerman arrived.
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PBS: Changing behaviors by changing school culture
by Lynne Ratliff Posted in Winter 2009 Edition | Permalink
As debate continues over whether punitive practices like zero tolerance deter bad student behavior, Positive Behavior Supports (PBS) has become increasingly popular. PBS, used in more than 10,000 schools in 40 states, works to change school climate by teaching and rigorously rewarding good behavior. However, it’s not a new approach.
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Behavioral health supports are expanding in the District
by Ruth Rouff Posted in Winter 2009 Edition | Permalink
A child’s emotional state can have a profound impact on his or her ability to learn, as any classroom teacher knows. Emotional issues often lead to problem behaviors.
With many of the District’s 167,000 students coming from stress-filled environments, the District and the city Department of Behavioral Health have been collaborating to increase access to school-based behavioral health programs for District students.
Today, almost 100 schools have teams of behavioral health staff, and more than 11,000 students received school-based services last year.
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Assaulted student knows the need for services
by Ruth Rouff Posted in Winter 2009 Edition | Permalink
In April 2005, a gang of boys assaulted Daniel Shaw, then a sophomore at Franklin Learning Center (FLC), on his way home from school. What happened in the aftermath illustrates how disciplinary issues are often closely intertwined with behavioral health issues, and how vital it is that schools offer behavioral health services.
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Groups lobby for – and win – changes to feeding program
by Dale Mezzacappa Posted in Fall 2009 Edition | Permalink
Activists who have long pressed the District to enhance its feeding programs are pushing changes in policy that they say will result in students eating more free meals at school.
Community Legal Services (CLS) and Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PCCY), want Superintendent Arlene Ackerman to include a school’s participation rate in the school breakfast program as an indicator on the new school report card.
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Black and Latino boys disrespected, task force finds
by Dale Mezzacappa
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