Health in School
Children and teens spend a good deal of time in school and it’s important to ensure they’re healthy enough to learn. Law and policy can support strategies and programs that provide kids with a safe environment and nutritious meals, as well as nursing and other health services, including dental care, that are essential in promoting health in school. For vulnerable and underserved children, schools can present significant opportunities for improving health.
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Resources
Trends in Vaccination Law and Judicial Challenges
Legal Issues in School Health: Scope of Practice, Standardized Data, and Special Topics
Michigan School Districts’ Legal Authority and Responsibility to Protect Students from COVID-19
Back-to-School Legal Trends and Challenges Relating to COVID-19
Back to School: Overview of Legal Challenges to Mask and Vaccine Requirements
COVID-19 Vaccination: State Minor Consent Requirements
Law and Policy Pathways to Addressing Rising Youth Suicide Rates
Key Federal Programs to Address Student Food Insecurity When School is out of Session
Policy Surveillance: Preschool Social and Emotional Learning
State Laws Addressing Concussions in Youth Sports
Making Sure Kids are Healthy Enough to Learn: Innovations in Education Law and Policy
Addressing the School Breakfast Gap: State Interventions
Spotlight
Renewed Efforts to Address the Negative Impacts of Inequitable School Discipline
State Laws Banning Transgender Students’ Participation in Sports Harm Health and Wellbeing
Do Not Fear Critical Race Theory (Or Why Public Health Must Embrace Dissent, Diversity, and Discourse)
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A Closer Look at Health in School
Children can’t learn when they’re hungry or sick, or absent from school. Ensuring kids are healthy enough—physically and emotionally—to learn is as important as the education they receive. Breakfast and lunch programs help kids get nutritious meals throughout the day. School immunization requirements ensure kids are safe from infectious diseases. School nurses provide timely health care to kids when they need it.
Children and teens spend more time in school than anywhere else except home, so schools present significant opportunities for improving health, particularly for vulnerable and low-income kids. Conditions and habits that affect health behaviors and decisions across the lifespan begin in early childhood education and continue into high school and beyond.
Law and policy can support strategies and programs that are essential to advancing health in school, including:
- Providing nutritious meals.
- Preventive dental care.
- Immunizations.
- Expanded health services through school nurses.
- Identifying mental and behavioral health needs.
- Addressing concussions in youth sports.
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