School Wellness Call to Action from Community Health Worker Network of Buffalo

Date: June 8, 2017
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The Board of Education will be voting on a revised District Wellness Policy on June 20 at its 5:30pm meeting (City Hall, Room 801). The Community Health Worker Network of Buffalo has worked long and hard on this much improved policy. PPG partners have made school wellness a top priority in past Community Agendas, and we urge you to help this across the finish line. Here are three easy ways to help:

1. SPEAK: If you would like to speak at the Board of Education meeting in support of the Wellness Policy, please call 816-3567 and get on the speakers list. Please say that your topic will be “Wellness Policy”. We had 10 parents at the April meeting, and it made a big difference in terms of informing the District leadership that this matters to us and to our children. We need at least that many folks again, and really need some student voices this time as well. This is a great opportunity for students to develop leadership, advocacy, and public speaking skills. If you sign up to speak, please let Jessica Bauer Walker know so we can coordinate talking points (see contact info below).

2. WRITE OR CALL: Letters of support, e-mails, and phone calls to the Superintendent and Board of Education ALSO make a difference. You can e-mail Superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash
at krinercash@buffaloschools.org and Board of Education President Dr. Barabara Nevergold at banevergold@buffaloschools.org. A full list of Board of Education Members by school is here here, and includes e-mails and phone number. Remember that Board of Education Members are elected officials who need to hear from their constituents/voters on issues that matter to us- so know who represents you and advocate for yourself and our kids!

3. READ, COMMENT, AND SHARE: Quick and easy option- you can read and comment on the District Wellness Policy (in the center of the BPS Health Related Service page) here . Even if you just comment “I support the Wellness Policy”, that helps. Even better is to emphasize anything you really want to ensure stays in there (i.e. I know parents and students pushed for recess beyond elementary aged students but there has been pushback on that…so if that or something else in there matters to you, be sure to call it out!), or include any comments on suggested revisions. You can also share the policy and comment link with others- please post on social media, listserves, websites, etc. and let’s get our parents, students, and community engaged on this!

4. Bonus option. CHWNB will also host a press conference before the 6/20 Board of Ed meeting at 5pm, so showing up to that will also help.

Any questions? Please contact:
Jessica Bauer Walker, Executive Director
Community Health Worker Network of Buffalo
515 Main Street Buffalo, NY 14203
716.548.6727
www.chwbuffalo.org
www.facebook.com/chwbuffalo