Year round communication among teachers, administrators and the community is vital for a school district. Every effort should be made to utilize district and community resources to maximize the educational experience of each student.

Within the area of local control, the League of Women Voters supports:

• the use of the budget as a planning document that reflects program priorities.
• limiting class size to facilitate learning.
• new construction when necessary to accommodate a growing student population.
• curriculum adoption and evaluation as a continuing process with broad involvement. Curriculum should reflect local learning objectives, keeping in mind current research, integration of skills, individual learning styles, and opportunities for enrichment.
• the critical role of the principal as a well-trained instructional leader.
• an evaluation system that encourages continued professional growth among all staff members.
• continued staff development with extra attention to the needs of beginning teachers.

Student Health Needs There is a broad range of health problems among Tri-Cities children and youth. They run from fatigue, lack of fitness and poor diet to substance abuse and teen pregnancy. Mental health needs are also growing more urgent as families find it more difficult to meet their children's needs. There seem to be many resources available in the community, primarily local government agencies, social service organizations, community groups and individual medical people. These resources are generally scattered, however, and not readily accessible to adolescents and low-income individuals and families.

Since a young person's health can affect his ability to learn and to get along with others, schools have an interest in promoting the health of their students. Therefore, the League of Women Voters supports:

• a comprehensive health curriculum taught in separate courses designed to reach every student and consciously reinforced and integrated into other appropriate areas of the curriculum from kindergarten through grade 12.
• in addition to units on substance abuse, personal safety and human development, a comprehensive health curriculum should include: communication, social, decision making and refusal skills; mental health, personal and family relationships; physiology, hygiene, nutrition and fitness; safety, first aid and emergency response; medical/dental care and communicable diseases.
• lifetime fitness should be an important part of the physical education curriculum.
• a comprehensive curriculum should emphasize the individual's responsibility for his own health, be appropriate to the student's development ages and interests and taught by well-trained personnel, knowledgeable about and comfortable with the subject matter.
• because of the sensitivity of some areas of the health curriculum, in particular sexuality education, members of the community should be involved in the development of required courses. The League also supports providing students a choice of alternative approaches to sensitive subjects.
• in-service training for all school personnel to help them learn to identify changes in students, which may indicate health-related problems.
• a formalized system in each school that is able to refer a student with health related problems and his family for appropriate assessment and treatment and provides necessary follow-up and support.
• an increase in the number of school personnel whose primary responsibility is student health, both physical and mental.
• the concept of school-based clinics as an appropriate way to meet young people's health needs and to encourage teenagers to assume responsibility for their own health care.
• efforts to increase the involvement of parents, the medical community, social service agencies and local governments in improving the health of Tri-Cities children and youth.