School Health Guidelines
to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity

A: Strategies include:

• Encourage communication among schools, families, and community members to promote the adoption of healthy eating and physical activity behaviors among students.
• Involve families and community members on the school health council.
• Develop and implement strategies for motivating families to participate in school-based programs and activities that promote healthy eating and physical activity.
• Access community resources to help provide healthy eating and physical activity opportunities for students.
• Demonstrate cultural awareness in healthy eating and physical activity practices throughout the school.

A: Partnerships among schools, families, and community members can:

• Enhance student learning
• Promote consistent messaging about healthy behaviors
• Increase resources
• Engage, guide, and motivate students to eat healthy and be active

A: Schools can create a welcoming, trusting, and inclusive environment where parents feel comfortable participating in school activities and are provided opportunities to offer their expertise. Parents can become engaged through clear, two-way communication channels between them and the school or district.

A: Schools can involve families by including parents on school health councils and teams, assigning homework for families to complete together, and family nights focused on healthy eating and physical activity.

A: Schools should provide parents with a variety of ways to participate in activities. For example, schools can try to link health promotion activities with those activities that already involve families, such as the PTA, school sports events, and parent-teacher conferences.

A: Schools can reach out to staff from universities, hospitals, local businesses, health centers, health agencies, and others as potential community partners.