California’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell joined a panel of high school students to discuss the significant role health plays in academic achievement and the important work of school health centers in providing health care to students.

“School health centers have changed my life is because I know there’s someone I can run to when I have a teen problem,” said Jackelyn Lopez, a student at Metropolitan High. “Before I knew about school health centers I had to worry about health problems, but now I know where to go to get confidential services.”

Lopez was joined by nine other students on Friday, Feb. 27, 2009, at Manual Arts High School, where students hosted a policy briefing, School-Based Health Centers United: Learn, Succeed, Empower. The event drew about 100 people from various city, school district and state offices.

O’Connell noted that chronic illnesses such as asthma and diabetes can be treated with the help of school health clinic staff and school nurses. “But we can and we must do more to supplement the work of these centers, and two of the most effective ways to do this is by increasing the number of school based health centers at least to the minimum of 500 recommended by the Governor a few years ago and increasing the number of credentialed school nurses in our public schools,” he said.

O’Connell also noted that there is only 1 school nurse for every 2,230 students in California. “This is unacceptable and it must change,” he said. (Follow the link for the complete text of O’Connell’s speech.)

Senator Carol Liu also commented that, as a former high school history teacher, she has witnessed the important connection between good health and educational success. “Healthy students make better students – it’s a no-brainer,” she said. “School-based health clinics help close the health disparity gap, but most importantly, they keep students in the classroom and out of the emergency room.”

The students also spoke about teen pregnancy prevention programs, school lunch and healthy food choices, and physical activity and expanding after-school programs.

“School-based health centers have been a second home to many and provide an opportunity for the disenfranchised to live a healthy lifestyle,” said Dale Maglalang, a student at Manual Arts.

There are 153 school health centers in California, or about 1 in every 64 school, and most of California’s school health centers are located in urban areas and are concentrated in the Los Angeles region and San Francisco Bay Area. There are 34 school health centers within the Los Angeles Unified School District. Services include, but are not limited to, health screenings, immunizations, asthma treatment, dental screenings, mental health counseling, and reproductive health counseling and/or testing.

The event was organized by students from the Policy Leadership Program on School Health at Manual Arts High, and was supported by the California Center for Civic Participation; the California School Health Centers Association; Children’s Hospital Los Angeles; Asian Pacific Health Care Venture; St. John’s Well Child & Family Center; Planned Parenthood Los Angeles; and the LA Coalition of School Health Centers.

Follow the link to see more photos of School-Based Health Centers United: Learn, Succeed, Empower.