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 Cause: revenue shortfall..... Effect: healthier students?

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seek2mend
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Cause: revenue shortfall..... Effect: healthier students? Empty
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PostCause: revenue shortfall..... Effect: healthier students?

Today's Sun Chronicle features an article about the innovative steps to co-ordinate the efforts of the YMCA and Foxboro High School.

When the issue of the possible misuse of the high school pool first came up several years ago, I suggested on the old chat group that perhaps we should let the Y run the pool in exchange for swim and fitness classes and/or cash.

I believe the cost of a student membership to the Y is about 22.00 per month.
If their are 3000 students enrolled in Seekonk Public Schools, that is about 66k per year. What does it cost the town to retain the Athletic Director alone? Purchasing a family membership for every student in town would probably be less of a strain on the school budget district wide than what it costs the town to maintain an inadequate health and physical fitness program .

Obviously, given the mandates, we cannot make changes over night. But wouldn't it make sense to explore the possibilities of incrementally enlisting the services of the YMCA to permanently provide a health and phys ed program for the students?
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Here is the article-

Quote :
FOXBORO - School and YMCA officials are working to establish the nation's first school-based Y leadership and wellness center at Foxboro High School this fall.

The aim is to open the 5,000-square-foot center in September by renovating an area adjacent to the gymnasium at the YMCA's expense.

During the school day, the center would be open to students in grades 9-12. After school, students and others could use the facility.

The school committee endorsed the concept this week during a presentation by Superintendent Christopher Martes and Jim Downs, executive director of the Invensys Foxboro branch of the Hockomock Area YMCA.

"We want it to be a model for across the country," Downs said. An area adjacent to the gym, including the current weight room, would be renovated this summer at a cost of about $70,000, plus equipment costs.

The Y plans to raise the money as part of a $1 million campaign to build an outdoor pool at the Foxboro branch, Downs said.

More details on that drive will be announced in a few weeks.

"Students who, for a variety of reasons, may not have had a YMCA experience can now enjoy school-based YMCA physical fitness and wellness activities and youth development programming," according to the proposal submitted to the school committee.

Opened in 2002, the Invensys Foxboro branch completed a major expansion in September 2008, adding an indoor pool, teen center, gymnasium and wellness center.

The branch now has 11,000 members. About half of all FHS students are now members, many through family memberships, but not all of those students members use the Y facilties, Downs said.

Asked how the center will benefit the Y, Downs said, "The students are here."

High school students would not need to be Y members to use the high school site.

Downs said management details need to be worked out, but he envisions FHS teachers in charge during school, Y staff after school.

The wellness section will support increased physical activity, training in lifetime wellness and exercise concepts, nutritional education and "targeted intervention to improve health outcomes." "It's really the youth obesity epidemic. We want to combat that," Downs said later.

The leadership section, operated by the YMCA, will "exclusively promote youth development" for FHS students through mentoring, leadership development, civic engagement, community service and workforce skills development.

Martes and Downs will later bring a design, created by the Y organization, for the committee's review.

"What a wonderful, well-spent gift for our community," school committee member Kate Kominsky said.

Chairwoman Marta Slattery, a nurse practitioner, said the new center affirms the town's long-standing commitment to health and fitness.

The school-based Y idea emerged from the Healthy Futures Committee, a panel whose members include Rep. Jay Barrows, Martes and Downs.

"We believe our in-school YMCA Leadership and Wellness Center at Foxboro High School will serve the needs of our local community and will also serve as a model for schools and YMCAs around the country in offering an innovative, collaborative approach to instilling lifelong healthy habits in teens while promoting the overall development of each young adult," the proposal said.
It is interesting and I agree that we will need to be very creative as we move forward.
 

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