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The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child, or WSCC model, is CDC’s framework for addressing health in schools. The WSCC model is student-centered and emphasizes the role of the community in supporting the school, the connections between health and academic achievement and the importance of evidence-based school policies and practices.

The WSCC model has 10 components:

1. Physical education and physical activity.
2. Nutrition environment and services.
3. Health education.
4. Social and emotional climate.
5. Physical environment.
6. Health services.
7. Counseling, psychological and social services.
8. Employee wellness.
9. Community involvement.
10. Family engagement.

Learn more about each of the 10 components.

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/wscc/index.htm

Since our last update this Fall, the Park Hill Wellness Program has continued many year-round programs such as Group Exercise Classes, Fitness Center memberships, Mental Health First Aid, EAP programming, online resources, and newsletters.

We’ve started our annual health screenings for 2024 – offering 10 onsite locations/dates! Employees with health benefits through Park Hill are required to attend one of these screenings or see their doctor, complete an online Health Risk Assessment (HRA), and earn points through an online BCBS portal in order to have their health benefits paid through the Board of Education each year. To date, over 700 employees have completed all these requirements. This process benefits employees by giving them an opportunity to see a snapshot of some basic health measures and engage in their own health journey. The district receives aggregate data on the health screenings and HRA used to provide wellbeing programming targeted to where we, as a district, need it.

Our first Group Exercise Session for Winter (Jan-Mar) consisted of 68 classes with 287 participant attendance. The Wellness Program also hosted its first blood drive in 4 years through the Community Blood Center – collecting 16 pints of blood that will help patients in the KC area!

Health Coaching is offered as a free service through Blue Cross Blue Shield for employees who are enrolled in a health benefits plan. These appointments are done by telephone or video call.

In 2023, our employee assistance program through BHS had a 93% resolution rate. The remaining 7% were provided with referrals for long-term outpatient mental health services. The online portal was accessed nearly 700 times with Emotional Well-Being as the number one category of interest followed by physical health, review of benefits, financial support and personal/professional growth.

At the Park Hill Fitness Center, we’ve enrolled in a unique program for our retirees called Renew Active. Our retirees really enjoy the environment and social aspects of the Park Hill Fitness Center.

In April, the Park Hill Wellness Program had Diagnostic Imaging out on April 5th for mobile mammography appointments for employees and family members and hosted another Mental Health First Aid Certification course for employees.

Park Hill is committed to maintaining safe and secure learning and working environments. Feedback from the first Park Hill 2034 Community Engagement opportunities identified safety and security as one of the top 3 priority areas. Part of our 2023-2028 Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (CSIP) Systems Index includes development of a long-range facilities plan that includes safety and security.

Over the years, the Park Hill School District has implemented several safety and security measures - including, but not limited to, employing a full-time Director of Safety & Security, securing building front entrances, distinguishing a single point of entry for visitors, Active Shooter Training, and quarterly building safety audits.

In November 2023, the district completed an All-Hazards Risk Assessment through Navigate 360. This tool not only confirmed areas of strength with regard to safety and security in each building, but perhaps more importantly showed where we are still vulnerable. Information gathered from the risk assessment assists us with long-range planning for improvement.

The Park Hill School District received a School Safety Grant Award in the amount of $200,144 from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). These funds allowed us to purchase gymnasium and stadium cameras, to increase our radio supply for crisis teams, to provide lockdown door magnets and more to support safety and security on our school campuses.

PROJECT ADAM & BECOMING A HEART-SAFE SCHOOL DISTRICT

Park Hill Health Services has partnered with Children’s Mercy Hospital to become a Heart Safe School District through Project ADAM. Named after a 17-year-old high school student who collapsed and died while playing basketball, Project ADAM’s mission is to save lives by empowering schools and communities to be prepared for sudden cardiac arrest. Each Park Hill school will assemble a Cardiac Emergency Response Team and implement periodic emergency response drills. All schools will be certified by May 2025.

• Hopewell, Congress, LEAD, Union Chapel, Line Creek, Park Hill High School, Chinn, Renner, Prairie Point, Tiffany Ridge, Hawthorn, Graden, and Plaza have Cardiac Emergency Response Teams in place and are Project Adam certified.

• Utilizing funds from a Safety Grant, Park Hill Health Services has provided every building with Narcan, Stop-the-Bleed Kits and purchased an additional 18 AEDs. The district went from having 37 AEDs across the district to a total 60 AEDs!

MORE HEALTH SERVICES NEWS

• Park Hill Health Services partnered with the Platte County Health Department to host immunization clinics in every middle school and high school. A total of 197 students received required 8th and 12th-grade immunizations. A total of 461 vaccines were given.

• Fourteen of our 32 nurses have achieved National Certification in School Nursing, demonstrating expertise in the specialty of school nursing. As of April 1st, Park Hill nurses have seen 61,129 students for health room visits, given 43,312 medications/treatments, and provided 14,110 health screenings.

• For the 2nd year, Park Hill has been awarded $5,079.77 from MO DESE to purchase feminine hygiene products for females in our middle and high schools across the district.

K-12 SEL Implementation Overview

Self-awareness. Self-management. Responsible decision making. Social awareness. Relationship skills. There isn’t anyone in any industry who would dispute that these are important characteristics in employees, or anyone who would question whether these are worthy skills for neighbors and co-workers.

But how do students learn these skills? Like learning to read and learning math, it is important we are intentional about how we teach this knowledge and these skills to students. The time when we expected students to just “pick this up along the way” has passed. Many things have taught us this, including a global pandemic that bound many of us to our homes and socially isolated us. Further, we know that strong SEL skills bring about positive outcomes for students, including better academic performance, attendance, and behavior.

As part of the 2023-2028 Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (CSIP), Park Hill School District will implement for the first time next year a K-12 social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum. At the elementary level, this curriculum is delivered by school counselors and supplemented by teachers using Character Strong’s PurposeFull People as a curriculum resource. SEL curriculum at the elementary level focuses on emotional regulation, social and self awareness, along with personal safety.

At the middle level, teachers will deliver the SEL curriculum in Life Education using the Character Strong curriculum resource. This will be supplemented by the Middle School Counseling Curriculum. Through engaging activities and lessons, middle school students learn about emotional regulation, empathy and compassion, along with developing their values, purpose, goals and habits. Students also learn about sexual harassment and how to keep themselves safe.

At the high school level, teachers will deliver lessons during intervention time (i.e., Homeroom, Tutorial, Community Time). Freshmen will focus on self awareness and learning about themselves, as they begin to put together their SEL Portfolio. Sophomores will focus on emotional regulation and conflict resolution. Building healthy relationships and preparing for life after high school will be the focus for juniors, and seniors will finalize their SEL Portfolio to take with them to carry out those plans after graduation. Students in grades 9-12 also learn about sexual harassment and consent in order to keep themselves safe.

How will we know students are learning what we want them to learn related to their social and emotional well-being? As part of the Building School Improvement Plans (BSIP), schools will continue to monitor and make plans to address results of the Panorama Student and SEL surveys. District-wide, results related to Student Belonging and School Climate will be closely watched, along with the results of the SEL Inventory.

Meeting this strategy in the 2023-2028 CSIP is an important step toward ensuring all in the Park Hill community feel a sense of belonging as we continue to build successful futures for students of all backgrounds

In March 2024, seven members of the social work team attended the School Social Workers of America National Conference in Baltimore and in April, eleven others will attend the School Social Worker Association of Missouri’s Spring Conference.

Social Work By the Numbers:

• School Based Mental Health
• 58 therapy referrals received made by social workers
• 27 students currently engaged in therapy
• 9 referrals have been referred out for various reasons
• 1 therapy termination in February(4 total this year)
• 4 intakes completed in February
• 18 students on waitlist
• McKinney Vento
• 223 total referrals made by social workers
• 310 students total enrolled
• 73 unaccompanied homeless youth enrolled
• 81 students have been screened by the social workers for suicide ideation
  

New Interactive Menus

Nutrition Services is excited to introduce new interactive school menus! After selecting a site group, school site, and meal option, patrons are taken to a calendar menu to view online or to print a PDF file and post on the fridge at home or in the classroom.

The interactive menu provides nutrition facts information, including calories, carbs, fat, and sodium, as well as highlights if menu items contain any of the nine (9) major allergens. Viewers can “build a meal” to see totals for macro and micronutrients, too. Just hover over any daily menu item to see nutrition facts and allergen information or click on an item to see more. Users can view carb counts from the "Nutrients" drop-down menu across the top of the calendar or select "Meal Accommodations" to specify something to avoid, i.e. Egg, and all menu items containing egg will be crossed out. You can even translate our menus into 132 different languages with a few simple clicks!

Mobile Menu App

We are pleased to announce a new Mobile Menu App that offers an easy way to view menus, nutrition fact, and allergen information for products right from your smart phone. This is just one more step we are making to continually improve the quality of the menus we offer our students and raise the bar on the standards of our school meal program. Our focus is on enhancing the diet of students with more nutritious choices here at school and empowering students and families with nutrition education to help form healthy habits that last a lifetime!

The School Nutrition & Fitness Mobile "Web Menu" App is available in the App Stores. Click on the links below or scan to QR code today!

The Park Hill Operations team works round the clock to ensure facilities are safe, up to code, and functioning at optimal levels to support safe, clean, comfortable, and secure learning and working environments. We partner with all component areas of the WSCC model to support student success and district programs every day.

Operations recently partnered with Health Services to install 18 new AEDs and to ensure existing AEDs meet the following recommendations:

• Can be retrieved within 3 minutes
• No barriers (doors, gates, alarmed hallways, etc) prevent access to the AED
• AEDs are placed at an unobstructed height no more than 48 inches from the floor
• Placed in a visible location
• Installed clear signage identifying the AED location
• AED is accessible during all hours buildings are open