Public Policy Positions of VtPHA

Healthy Communities

School Health..

The VtPHA acknowledges that schools have multiple opportunities for promoting health and preventing illness in Vermont youth, while setting the stage for a lifetime of healthy behaviors. Learning stands to be more successful when students, faculty and staff are healthy. Furthermore, higher educational status is associated with better adult health status. Therefore, VtPHA supports policies that assure the following components of school health:

Comprehensive, research-based health curriculum
Physical education that encourages lifelong physical fitness
Essential health services with linkages to community providers
Nutrition services and policies that support healthy and safe food choices
Counseling and social services that help remove barriers to student academic success
Safe and supportive school environments that encourage academic success
Reduction and elimination of exposures to environmental toxins in the school environment
Health promotion for faculty and staff wellness
Family and community involvement
Resources for promoting health that maximize student capacity for learning