Holbrook Schools Work To Teach Students About Healthy Lifestyles

By Linda Kor
   With obesity, diabetes and other health issues affecting so many Americans, schools are required to offer students healthy alternatives to encourage better eating habits and healthy activity. Tuesday evening, Holbrook Superintendent Mary Koury presented the school board with information as to how the district’s schools will be addressing the issue.
   “Students have an opportunity to eat both breakfast and lunch at the school through our cafeteria services. Fresh fruits and vegetables are served daily, breads are 100 percent whole grain, and breakfast cereals are reduced in sugar,” Koury informed the board.
   Information provided by the Arizona Department of Health indicates that 24 percent of children from the ages of 2 to 5 are overweight or at risk of being so, as are the same percentage of high school students. With children spending a large portion of their day in school, continued efforts to educate and impress the need for a healthy lifestyle can have a big impact on a child’s well-being and performance at school.
   “Each of the elementary schools offer a physical education program, and the schools also participate in programs that encourage students to excel in and maintain their physical well-being,” added Koury.
   Holbrook Junior High School and Holbrook High School offer physical education as part of the re-quired curriculum, and this year students will be watching videos and receiving information on the dangers of obesity and the importance of exercise and healthy eating.
   Koury also informed the board that the principals have indicated that teachers at the elementary level have noticed a significant difference in the energy level of students with the emphasis on healthy eating and more exercise.
   In other business July 8, the board:
   * Adopted the U.S. History advanced placement supplemental materials, “The Supreme’s Greatest Hits” by Michael Trachtman, “Don’t Know Much About American History” by Kenneth Davis and “The Nation Takes Shape” by Marcus Cunliffe.
   * Approved the district’s Classroom Site Fund (CSF) committee’s recommendation to make a fall per-formance stipend payment to each faculty member whose school site achieved its site performance objectives as presented.
   * Approved the review of a five-year intergovernmental agreement between the Northern Arizona Vo-cational Institute of Technology, also known as joint technological education (JTED), and the district to provide joint technological courses.
   * Approved Arizona Psychological Services to provide counseling services for Indian Wells Elemen-tary School for the 2008-2009 school year at a cost of $19,754.
   * Approved the utility plan with a budgeted amount of $772,820.
   * Approved and adopted the 2008-2009 budget in the amount of $17,932,026.
   * Approved the facility use agreement between Northland Pioneer College (NPC) and the district’s Triumph School. NPC will make available classroom space at NPC’s Painted Desert Campus, located at 2251 Navajo Blvd., for the purpose of instructing students enrolled at Triumph. Triumph will make avail-able to NPC auditorium space at the George Gardner Performing Arts Center for two major NPC activities and up to two performing arts productions each academic year.
   * Approved Duane Gagnon, Linda Blansett, Michael Gerner, Gary Plank and Eleutheria LLC to pro-vide student psychological services and approved the use of a multi-year contract.
   * Approved a 60-day review of the Navajo Language supplemental reading materials.
   * Approved Galileo as the district’s benchmark assessment tool to measure student’s mastery of state content standards.
   * Approved Scholastic as the sole source vender for Read 180 licensing, training, goods and services.
   * Approved Renaissance Learning Inc. as the sole source vendor for Accelerated Math software sup-port.
   * Approved Olympia Computing as the sole source vendor for licensing, training, goods and services for the School Master Student Management System.
   * Approved Frontier Communications as the sole source vendor for the district’s telephone service.
   * Approved Dell as the sole source for specific Dell parts.
   * Approved Frontier and Navajo Communications to continue as Internet and phone service vendors at IWES for the upcoming 2008-09 school year.
   * Approved the Desegregation Verification Reporting form with attached documentation.
   * Approved the continuation of the district’s formal written agreement with the U.S. Office of Civil Rights (OCR).
   * Approved the maintenance and operations OCR budget in the amount of $2,245,999 and capital OCR budget in the amount of $272,483.
   * Approved Walt’s Hardware as a sole source provider for immediate needs in the area of hardware and maintenance supplies for 2008-09.
   * Approved the 60-day review of the Houghton Mifflin English series for the Structured English Im-mersion classrooms at Hulet Elementary School.
   * Approved out of state travel for Daphne Lamb to attend training in the use of Paxton-Patterson labs July 21-25 in Grand Rapids, Mich., at an estimated cost of $3,500.
   * Approved the classified employment of Sherah LaBuff, district office student worker; and Barbara Harvey, Hulet registration assistant.
   * Approved the certified employment of Joshua Frechette and Rebecca Knights, Park School teachers; Connie Poulsen-Hollin, district librarian; and Jennifer Hill, Cale Allen, John Paul Hunt and Colleen Tretton, IWES teachers.
   * Approved extra duty assignments for Tim Eddings, home school services; Cindy Percy, HHS Student Council advisor; Jody Good, HHS assistant football coach and head track coach; John Bokker, HHS assistant football coach and head wrestling coach; Dennis Pelty, HHS assistant football coach; Shawn Layden, HHS assistant football coach and head baseball coach; Brian Snell, HHS assistant football coach; Kelly Buckwalter, HHS assistant volleyball coach; Fred Jackson, HHS assistant track coach; Jennifer Moats, HHS assistant track coach; Richard Martinez, HHS assistant wrestling coach; Darrin Thomas, HHS assis-tant baseball coach and head football coach; Monty Flack, HHS head softball coach; Eldon Ferguson, HHS head chess coach; Raul Mendoza, HHS head boys’ basketball coach; Dave Wright, HHS head boys’ soccer coach; Tim Yazzie, HHS head cross country coach; Leslie Baldonado, HHS head volleyball coach; Del Novell, HHS head golf coach; Stacey Nowell, HHS head spiritline coach/split; and Amanda McNabb, HHS head spiritline coach/split.
   * Approved gifts and donations from Victoria Montoya and Therese Rasheed totaling $66.17.
   * Approved professional leave for the following employees: Janelle Chee, ALEA meeting held June 13 in Phoenix at an estimated cost of a district vehicle; Janelle Chee, Johnson O’Malley meeting held June 25 in Window Rock at an estimated cost of a district vehicle; Janelle Chee, Arizona English Learner Language Assessment training scheduled July 9 in Flagstaff at estimated cost of a district vehicle; Mandy McNabb, Stacy Nowell, Melicia Thompson, and Nichole Ohlson, Spirit Line camp/certification held June 29-July 1 in Phoenix at an estimated cost of $460 plus district vehicles; Sylvia Jackson, Diné Community College Book Store, June 19 in Tsaille at an estimated cost of a district vehicle; and Sally O’Dell, Arizona Associa-tion of School Business Officials Summer Conference scheduled July 22-25 in Tucson at an estimated cost of $680.
   * Approved expense and revolving fund vouchers in the amount of $228,336.51.
   * Approved payroll and expense vouchers in the amount of $1,114,671.80.