Health, grades closely tied, panel told
Improving academic achievement among poor Ohio students means working to make them healthier, a state panel studying poverty and education heard Thursday.
There is a strong link between education and student health, and Ohio is one of the least healthy states in the nation, representatives of the Health Policy Institute of Ohio told the Task Force on Education and Poverty, a panel designed to recommend ways to close a persistent achievement gap involving students in poverty.
“Children in poverty are more likely to have health problems,” said Amy Rohling McGee, president of the Health Policy Institute. That, she said, leads to problems in school with attendance, stress and lack of engagement.
Neither state nor federal law requires schools to provide comprehensive health services to all students. Ohio schools employ nurses, but only an average of 1.1 per 1,000 students. Schools can’t be expected to address health-related barriers on their own, said Becky Carroll, policy analyst for the Health Policy Institute.
Task force member Karen Boch, superintendent of
Wellston Schools in southern Ohio, said districts like hers often don’t have the resources to handle student health issues.
The district has an immunization clinic, she said, but it can be a challenge to get students there. When school closes for a few days because of snow, she sees some students happy to come back just because they can stay warm and get a meal.
The institute recommended collaborations with the community to provide health-care services,
including the development of more school-based health centers that deliver services to students and staff. They are commonly sponsored by federally qualified health centers, hospitals or local health departments.
In-school health clinics were first established in Columbus in 2015.
The task force, created by the Ohio House, also heard from Phil DeVol, author of the book “Bridges Out of Poverty: Strategies for Professionals and Communities,” which stresses that stereotypes and prejudices about the poor must be challenged, and teaches the “hidden rules” of poor, middle-class and wealthy communities that lead people to build respect and help those who truly need it.
For example, while driving forces for the middle class are work and achievement, the keys for those in poverty are survival, relationships and entertainment, DeVol said.
When it comes to money, the middle-class rule is to manage it, DeVol said. But
“It’s going to allow us to realize the mission of the school in a way we’ve never been able to before,” Zelkowicz said. “We still have
in poverty, it’s about spending it on immediate needs because there will never be enough to solve deep financial problems.
Possessions are things for the middle class, whether houses, furnishings or golf clubs, DeVol said. But for those in poverty, possessions tend to be people, including spouses and children, and children may be encouraged to “value belonging over belongings.”