TALLAHASSEE — Florida's Coordinated School Health Partnership, the Florida Association of District School Superintendents, Florida Action for Healthy Kids and the Florida Healthy Kids Corporation recognized 27 Florida Healthy Districts.
School districts recognized are:
Gold: Baker, Duval, Leon, Nassau, Palm Beach, Santa Rosa
Silver: Brevard, Broward, Citrus, Escambia, Indian River, Monroe, Okeechobee, Pasco, Polk, St. Lucie, Volusia
Bronze: Bay, Bradford, Franklin, Lake, Madison, Manatee, Martin, Seminole, Sumter, Union
The newly awarded districts join the 16 recognized districts from last year for a total of 43 Florida Healthy School Districts out of 67 in the state.
The awards are based on criteria from the Florida Healthy School District Self-Assessment tool, which was developed by the Florida CSHP to acknowledge and commend the hard work and success of school districts related to physical, mental and social health of students and staff.
Through implementation of the Coordinated School Health approach, these districts demonstrated a high level of commitment toward meeting the health needs of students and staffers by maximizing district resources and removing barriers to learning.
The self-assessment tool is based on sustainable infrastructure, policy, programs and practices identified from national and state guidelines, best practices and Florida statutes. It was written by school experts, evaluated, piloted and field-tested for three years before being released in 2009.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Santa Rosa County School District gets gold in health