Identify a Team
This is an H3
Objectives:
- To secure commitment and support from the district for policy development
- To create an active advisory committee
- To develop a sense of the job, including tasks and timeline
- To match team members with tasks
Anyone can initiate a process to create a new policy or adopt an existing policy. Consider including teachers, parents, students, School Board members, district administrators, school nurses and the public in the process. Make sure you involve everyone that will be affected by the policy.
Frequently, members of effective policy teams possess a combination of these qualities:
- Demonstrated interest in improving school sun safety
- Effective communicators and team players
- Possess some understanding of the district's procedural requirements for policy
- Have policy-related experience in the district
It is important to collaborate with any existing efforts underway in the school or community. If your school district is already working on sun safety issues, or other health related issues, and has an existing infrastructure such as a school health council, or a coordinated school health program, these people are well-positioned to assist in the development of the policy.
The following tasks can be completed by your team members:
- Conduct the district assessment
- Write the policy
- Help build support for the proposed policy
- Introduce the proposed policy to the School Board or other decision-making body
- Help implement the policy
- Evaluate the policy on an annual basis
The following are some resources to assist schools and school districts in establishing a new team, if needed, or in building upon existing teams and partnerships.
Effective School Health Advisory Councils: Moving from Policy to Action.- Promoting Healthy Youth, Schools, and Communities: A Guide to Community-School Health Councils from the American School Health Association.
- Improving School Health: A Guide to School Health Councils from the American Cancer Society.
Adapted from USDA Team Nutrition’s The Local Process: How to Create and Implement a Local Wellness Policy, and University of Southern California Prevention Solutions’ Alcohol & Drug Policy Resource Manual for Schools by Mary Ann Pentz, PhD. (Unpublished).
