By Jennifer Kelly, Healthy Chelsea
Addressing the obesity crisis represents a critical opportunity for schools, as Kenneth Thorpe noted in an op-ed on December 2. This vision aligns perfectly with the mission of Healthy Chelsea, a community health coalition partnering with Chelsea Public Schools. For more than five years, both organizations have collaborated to achieve measurable progress on this front.
A 2009 MGH community assessment prompted the formation of Healthy Chelsea after identifying elevated obesity rates as a significant resident concern. Through partnerships with Chelsea schools, the coalition promotes active living and nutritious eating among the majority of young people in the city. According to 2010 school BMI statistical data, 48 percent of Chelsea school children in 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th grades were overweight or obese. The disparities extend beyond weight: Chelsea residents face higher risks of developing diabetes and greater mortality rates from heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes compared to their counterparts across Massachusetts.
Such health inequities are unacceptable. Convenience stores and fast food establishments proliferate throughout our community—a particular burden for families working multiple jobs under depressed socioeconomic conditions. Our students’ health and futures should not suffer due to these circumstances.
From pre-K through high school, Healthy Chelsea implements collaborative programming and initiatives across all Chelsea public schools. Improving school meal quality, freshness, and nutritional value stands as a primary objective, since most students depend on school meals for at least two daily meals.
Continuous improvements result from close partnerships with Chelsea Food Services. Major changes have included removing juice from menus—a pediatrician-recommended but initially unpopular step due to high sugar content—and introducing home-cooked high school options like BBQ Chicken Dinner and Fresh Fish Platter prepared with local baked redfish.
Culturally appropriate menu items receive strong emphasis as well. Students regularly request tacos, enchiladas, baleadas, sambusas, and other family meals. These familiar dishes support health when prepared with whole, fresh ingredients. Over recent years, burritos, tacos, and tostadas have been incorporated into the menu, though this remains an ongoing process.
The Youth Food Movement (YFM) brings student perspectives into decision-making through paid Healthy Chelsea interns. They conduct school food surveys, speak during Food Service meetings, and have successfully proposed menu additions that now appear in the cafeteria.
Substantial gains in meal quality and student satisfaction reflect these collaborative efforts, district administration support, and Chelsea Food Service’s commitment. At Chelsea High School as of September 2016, lunch participation reached 72 percent, up from less than 40 percent five years earlier. Additionally, the amount of meals offered that fall into a “green zone,” indicating nutritional quality, has risen from seven to 37 percent.
Monthly Harvest of the Month tastings represent another cafeteria initiative. Students at each elementary school cafeteria and the Early Learning Center (ELC) after-school program sample the fruit or vegetable of the month once monthly. Even if they don’t like the recipe, students are celebrated for trying something new and receive stickers and trading cards. Hundreds of students have sampled kale, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and more.
School gardening programs operate in four schools with Healthy Chelsea collaboration. Over the past two years FoodCorps service members have worked with the ELC, Hooks, Kelly, and Berkowitz to build, expand, and teach science lessons in these garden spaces. Not only does gardening get students outside and engaged with nature, it also allows them to experience the satisfaction of growing their own food. We have witnessed first graders chowing down on raw kale and radishes that they grew in their own garden. Come visit one of the gardens in the spring, if you don’t believe us!
Physical activity integration in classrooms represents another priority. While many elementary school teachers were already doing this on their own, we worked with the schools to add a policy making it mandatory to add more activity into the daily routine for grades pre-K to 4. The schools now have access to software that makes it easier to incorporate “movement breaks” into their day and even tie it to their lessons.
Every Chelsea student merits the same health opportunities available to students elsewhere in Massachusetts. Ongoing collaboration with our schools ensures young people receive not only quality education but also the nourishment and life skills necessary for long, healthy lives.