Coordinated School Health Program Addressing Wellness of Students

The Coordinated School Health Program is working to help address the wellness of students in the school system.
Deanna Pursinger, Coordinator, updated the school board on services offered under the program during Thursday night’s meeting. “I would like to give just a quick coordinated school health update. All the Automated External Defibrillators (AED’s) have been put into all the schools and placed in cabinets close by to the offices. All of our school’s have AED’s. In fact, the high school has two. They have one at the vocational building and we’ve also put one here at the central office.”
” Three of our four nurses have gotten their CPR instructor certification, so that means that they can now teach the CPR classes and get more of our faculty and staff certified which is a goal for coordinated school health this year.”
” Since school has started, we’ve made 70 plus visits to the schools for various reasons.”
” Our health screenings are complete already. And I’d like to mention that those health screenings could not have been completed without partnerships from the community and we formed lots of partnerships to get those completed. Through our health screenings, we’ve identified students in our system with high blood pressure. Those kids have been put on medication. That’s unfortunate for the children, but that’s definitely a positive that’s come out of this program. We’ve had lots of students identified with vision problems. We’ve partnered with the Lion’s Club and they have provided free examinations and eye glasses for students without insurance.”
” I’d also like to mention that on November 11th, we are hosting a coordinated school health “Health Fair” at DeKalb Middle School from 4:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. We’ve got lots of people already committed. The hospital is going to do blood pressure checks and blood glucose checks. Tennessee Suicide Network Prevention is also coming. We hope that we can have a successful health fair so that we can do it again next year and offer lots of education and information. This is going to be county wide. It’s going to be at the middle school, but it’s going to be county wide for all students, family, and community.”
In other business, Board Chairman Charles Robinson appointed three standing committees. ”
Our policies provide for board committees. This is located in our board committee’s descriptor code 1.300 of our policy manual. The board may operate with standing committees and special committees composed of board members. These committees will serve in an advisory capacity and shall consist of three board members, unless a two thirds majority of the vote deems otherwise. A committee shall serve no longer than the annual organization meeting of the board unless re-appointed to finish a designated task. Committee meetings shall be held in accordance with the open meetings law. Committee chairs will notify committee members, the director of schools, and chairman of the board of the time, place, and location of all committee meetings and a notice of these meetings will be posted at the central office. Board members from their experience in the private sector as business owners or employees and as parents and taxpayers bring valuable insight, observation, and experiences to this board and to the success of the school system. So as chairman, I am establishing the following standing committees: Transportation Committee- W.J. (Dub) Evins III, John David Foutch, Bruce Parsley, and Peggy Pursell. Facilities Committee- Johnny Lattimore, W.J. (Dub) Evins III, John David Foutch, and Earl Jared. Policy Committee- Joan Draper, Kenny Rhody, Bruce Parsley, and Teresa Miller. I will leave the organization of these committees as to who will serve as chairperson up to each committee. To maintain our board of distinction status, and because our board recognizes the need for this appointment, I am asking Kenny Rhody to serve as our Tennessee Legislative Network representative for the Tennessee School Board Association. Mrs. Draper and Mr. Rhody also serve as trustees of our sick bank and I am asking them to serve as a special committee with the inclusion of Mr. Parsley to investigate the procedure to include non-certified employees in our sick bank or the process needed to form another sick bank, addressing the needs of our own non-certified employees. If it requires a legislative act, I am asking Mr. Rhody as our TLN representative to inquire as to the proper way to address this at the TSBA Day on the Hill function for the 2009 Tennessee School Board Association Convention.”
DCHS Principal Kathy Hendrix updated the school board on recent activities at her school. “From DeKalb County High School we would like to congratulate Ms. Walteen Parker. She was selected for the A.F. Bridges female coach of the year. That’s a great accomplishment and we appreciate her and thank her for that.”
“Our golf team has done a fantastic job this year and I want to mention some of their accomplishments. The boys set the all time nine hole school record with 142 at Southern Hills. Payne Denman shot a 29 at Riverwatch which is believed to be a school record for a nine hole match. The boys won the district for a second year in a row. They also won the regional tournament for the second year in a row. They also came in third in the state tournament this year. This is also for the second year in a row. Austin Garrett won the district tournament and he finished 18th in the state. Payne Denman won the regional tournament for the second year in a row. He also won the state tournament. That is a great accomplishment. Shay Sullivan won the McMinnville Invitation Tournament. She also won the district for the third time and she won the region for the second time. She finished fourth in the state. We’re very proud of all of these students for their accomplishments.”
“We just had our report cards go out this past week. We also had our parent-teacher conference and I’d like to say we had a great turnout. We really appreciate all the parents and everyone who came out to check on their sons and daughters.”
“I’d also like to remind the parents that we have an abundance of before and after school help available for the students that need enrichment, tutoring, and we need the parents to encourage them to take advantage of these opportunities that we have available for them. We also have transportation available throughout the county to area drop off points in the afternoon for students that don’t have a ride home.”
Director of Schools Mark Willoughby presented his written update on personnel moves since last month.
Those employed include Annette Davis, educational assistant at DCHS and Crystal Bishop and Teresa Spencer, educational assistants at Smithville Elementary School.
Jamie Wright was transferred to a Record’s Clerk position at DCHS and Alisha Cheatham was transferred to a part-time Speech Language Pathologist position.