City Enacting New Preschool Health Goals

As more Chicago Public Schools cash in on Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s longer-day incentives by adding 90 minutes to their school day, many schools who had voted last spring to bring back recess are going unnoticed.

The move to get children out on the playground is part of a broader health push by parents and advocacy groups in Chicago. And some city officials are taking note by taking the campaign for more exercise and better nutrition into the pre-school ages, where habits are formed that can effect a child’s potential both physically and mentally.

Beginning in November, the city’s Department of Public Health will require children who attend preschool or day care centers in Chicago to spend less time in front of television or computer screens and more time participating in physical activity. At snack or meal time, the department will require reduced-fat milk and natural juices as part of a push to improve nutrition.

Chicago has one of the highest rates of overweight children, according to research compiled by the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children, a group of organizations and health advocates focused on reducing childhood obesity in the city. Twenty-two percent of children are overweight before they enter school, more than twice the national average, research shows.

The city’s Department of Public Health first mandated preschool health standards in 2009 and some preschools and day care centers, including federally funded Head Start programs and Chicago Public Schools early childhood centers, already have adopted them. The department this summer augmented its nutrition standards.

The new requirements will align childcare practices across a city where roughly 75 percent of children ages three to six participate in some form of non-parental care, according to the department’s figures.

“The new set of standards is much more refined than the ones we had before,” said Bechara Choucair, the citys health commissioner. He singled out the limits on time in front of a screen as the most significant change.

The new standards require children who are 2 years of age or older to spend 60 minutes or less in front of a screen, while those under the age of 2 are prohibited from any screen time at all while in preschool or daycare. Also, any child over the age of 1 is required to have at least 60 minutes of structured physical activity.

Under the health department’s new nutrition requirements for preschoolers, milk cannot have a fat content higher than 1%, unless a child has written consent from a doctor. Only 100% juice with no added natural or artificial sweeteners can be served.

Choucair said the department has not yet determined how it will enforce the new requirements, but said it plans to start doing so in November.

Tracy Moran, a researcher at the Erikson Institute, a graduate school focused on early childhood development and education, said the requirements are important because children who develop a healthy lifestyle early on are less likely to develop health problems such as high cholesterol, type-2 diabetes, and hypertension.

“If we set kids up early on with healthy behaviors, the more likely they are to continue these behaviors,” Moran said.

But the ability of preschoolers to continue healthy behaviors once they reach elementary school and beyond will rely on the outcome of the current debate over a longer school day in CPS, where most schools do not have recess or daily physical education.

Today, only a handful of CPS schools have recess. Decades ago, most schools cut recess by shortening the lunch period to 20 minutes and having teachers take their lunch at the end of the day. Last spring, the parent organization Raise Your Hand launched a campaign to have teachers vote on waivers that would move their lunch period back into the middle of the school day. The change allows students to have 45 minutes to eat lunch and go outside for recess.

Moran said the current CPS schedule–with its short school day–could “certainly stunt any progress made early on.”

However, since Raise Your Hand launched its campaign, twelve more schools have voted to lengthen the school day by restoring recess: Burroughs, Coonley, Dumas, Earle, Hamilton, Kershaw, Langford, Onahan, Pulaski, Scammon, Shoesmith and Thorpe.

But those schools are not benefiting from Emanuel’s current offer to give up to $150,000 in discretionary funds and a roughly 2 percent pay raise for teachers to any school that lengthens its day by 90 minutes. The extended time could include a 45 minute block for recess and lunch.

On Tuesday, Disney II Magnet School and Nash Elementary School voted to cash in on the incentives, bringing the total to seven. Other schools adding 90 minutes: William H. Brown, Benjamin Mays, Genevieve Melody, Skinner North and STEM Magnet Academy.

Emanuel and CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard announced that all schools will have an additional 90-minutes beginning with the 2012-2013 school year.

Those involved in implementing the health and nutrition standards in Chicago’s preschool and day care centers say they hope the additional time includes room for physical activity.

“We all hope that Chicago schools will have a longer day that will include time for recess and healthy activity,” said Tom Browning, director of the child nutrition and wellness program at Illinois Action for Children.

Illinois Action for Children has partnered with the Erikson Institute to train childcare providers on implementing the new requirements. Moran, of the Erikson Institute, developed the curriculum for the sessions. To date, Illinois Action for Children has conducted 36 training sessions involving more than 300 childcare providers.

Participants have a number of real-world concerns when it comes to implementing the new standards. For example, providers say centers located in food deserts face particular challenges, as do those caring for children whose parents do not have time or money to eat healthfully and exercise, Browning said.

“Many low-income parents are just trying to pay the bills, and when you’re stressed out over money, a lot of things fall by the wayside,” he said.

Moran said the curriculum she developed is designed so providers can customize their programs based on local needs. Participants are given resource binders to take back to their preschools or day care programs, Moran said. The materials include healthy tips, such as rinsing off canned fruits and vegetables and suggestions that children play games, like Red Rover, that don’t require expensive equipment.

“We’re sort of getting back to the basics that we somehow missed in the last few decades,” Moran said.