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Rego Park Principal Focuses on Student, Parent and Teacher Wellness

By Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska | November 10, 2014 7:45am
 Principal Monica Powers Meade believes that children should be exercising and eating nutritious meals.
P.S. 139 in Rego Park
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QUEENS — For principal Monica Powers Meade, school should do more than just teach children reading, writing and arithmetic. It should also educate children about healthy lifestyle and nutrition.

Several years ago P.S. 139, at 93-06 63rd Drive in Rego Park, introduced a School Wellness initiative, which entails a variety of ideas such as teaching children how to prepare healthy salads, encouraging kids to exercise and promoting fruit and vegetable snacks. 

The pre-K through 5th grade school, which currently serves 858 students, carries out its mission with an innovative relationship with CookShop, a nutrition education program offered by the Food Bank for New York City.

The school also works with Columbia University's Teachers College to help teachers with academics.

Powers Meade, who grew up in Rego Park, has spent her entire professional career at P.S. 139. She began as a third-grade teacher. She later taught fifth grade and advanced learners before becoming the school's principal in 2007.

In fact, many parents at the school were once her students.

“This school means an awful lot to me,” she said.

Please describe the school's healthy eating and other wellness initiatives.

We are very proud partners with CookShop, [a program offered by] the Food Bank of New York City. We started this partnership four years ago. I have 10 classes in K through second grade where the teachers prepare non-processed foods for our kids and teach them about how to eat healthy. I order all the materials through Fresh Direct and CookShop picks up the tab for it.

We also have so called "Fruitilicious Fridays." On Fridays, I would get on the public announcement system and say: “Boys and girls, I’m eating an apple today. What are you eating for snacktime?” The parents get on board and send their kids in with various fruits on Fridays. It creates a culture of eating healthy.

For two years in a row [with a grant from] the Department of Education School Wellness Council we’ve also had "Family Fitness Night." So we tried to plan intergenerational workshops, where parents and kids can [participate]. We’ve had zumba, line-dancing, basketball, volleyball and yoga. We will be having that in May again.

I also have close to 30 teachers trained in Move-to-Improve, a program that trains the teachers on how to use structured games and exercise in the classroom. With five minutes of time before they go to lunch, [teachers] put on some music and they are dancing and exercising in a fun way.

We have also developed a garden committee. Through GrowNYC we are hoping to receive a small grant so that we can plant perennials and various vegetables outside.

Why is it so important for this school to offer nutrition education? 

If kids are eating healthy and they are exercising, they are going to do far better in terms of their performance in the classroom. 

I think that the academics are very important and we want our kids to be good readers, writers and mathematicians — that is our goal at the school. But we also want our kids to feel good about themselves, socially and emotionally. And that means eating healthy. 

The school also has a workshop about healthy eating for parents. Can you talk about that?

My parent coordinator, Nina Lipton, who is a trained professional chef, leads “What’s On Your Plate” workshops for parents, where she invites them in and helps them learn to read labels and look at nutrition in a different way. They also prepare meals.

Can you discuss the school's academics?

We have very high standards. We want our kids to be good writers. You will see them debating different issues and then writing about that. Should we wear school uniforms? Should we drink chocolate milk? Should the kids have a voice in school food? Pros and cons. Kids are very invested in that. They also do a lot of debating on fiction topics, looking at certain characters in a particular book. Why is this character strong, why do you think this character is weak? Defend your position. They also do a lot of informational reading, they do a lot of research and a lot of turn and talk.

But we also want kids to be well rounded in the arts. We have a phenomenal glee club that has received several awards in the past.  We have students involved in Music Memory, which is a citywide competition at NYU, and "Dancing on Broadway" in the fourth grade.

The school also has its own unique program for advanced learners. How did that come about?

We have a Kappa program for advanced learners from grade 2 all the way up to 5, [which offers an enriched] curriculum for those kids that can really benefit from that challenge. About 120 to 130 kids [attend the program].

But we feel very strongly that all children should be challenged — not just kids that are in the gifted area. And we do that through small group instruction. Our teachers are able to differentiate the kids that need support in a particular skill area.

The school is located in one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the country. How do you address that?

We are very proud that this is a very multicultural organization. I have over 35 languages spoken under this roof, and currently we have 153 ESL students.

We have an international festival here in May. It’s almost like a talent show and kids celebrate their heritage through dance and music.

We also have a Lunar New Year parade to celebrate the Asian American community.

And we always make sure that we [provide translators for parents who don't speak English].