Viola Gibson, Harrison earn Blue Zones designation

Viola Gibson and Harrison elementary schools, in the Cedar Rapids Community School District, are Linn County's first Blue Zones Schools.

The buildings earned the designation through implementing policies and programs that promote wellness.

'For me, it means that we are helping not only our school but our community be healthy,” said Harrison Principal Amy Russell. 'We'll move forward and continue to refine practices. ... It's a continuing project for us.”

It's also a work in progress for Cedar Rapids. In order to become a Blue Zones Community, a city must meet six requirements including having 25 percent of its public schools earn Blue Zones designations.

Stephanie Neff, community program manager for Blue Zones Project Cedar Rapids, said she'd like to see nine more of the city's public schools follow Viola Gibson and Harrison by October 2015, thus meeting the 25 percent threshold in time for Cedar Rapids' planned citywide certification in January 2016.

'Having that designation is great,” Neff said. 'It not only helps them, it helps the whole community.”

The Blue Zones Project is an initiative from Healthways and sponsored by Wellmark to improve quality of life through lifestyle changes.

'I think for these two schools the investment was minimal,” Neff said. 'A lot of schools find that once they do the assessment they are already doing a lot of the best practices and maybe just need to tweak them.”

Establishing health and wellness committees, banning on-site tobacco use and reorganizing the lunch room in order to encourage students to make healthier food selections are just three of the policy changes staff can make on the path to gaining the Blue Zones designation. Faculty also can implement programs, such as walking school buses and school gardens.

'They don't have to do everything on the menu,” said Neff, who helped Viola Gibson and Harrison staff members document their achievements in order to secure the designations. 'They can pick and choose what fits best with their facilities and their environments.”

Neff said that schools in the College Community and Linn-Mar districts, which both have buildings within Cedar Rapids, are exploring earning the designations, as is at least one private school. She estimated that five or six more Cedar Rapids Community School District schools would pursue the recognition this fall.

Sara Mentzer, community program manager for Blue Zones Project Marion, said Linn-Mar and Marion Independent School District staff also are looking into seeking the certification for buildings within the city.

At a June 10 board meeting, the Iowa City Community School District School Board approved a resolution to get 25 percent of the district's schools to earn the designation in order to help Iowa City become a Blue Zones Community.

Chace Ramey, chief community affairs officer for the district, said administrators and staff are not yet sure which schools will be first on that path, especially because the district serves students outside of Iowa City.

'For Blue Zones purposes, we would look at schools within Iowa City,” he said. 'We're still early in the process.”

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