MCPS Concludes 'On The Move' Program With Awards Ceremony

Montgomery County Public Schools and their benefits partner, Kaiser Permanente, held a final awards ceremony on Wednesday for area Elementary School teachers and staff who were involved in the “” wellness program. The ceremony took place at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville.

The keynote speaker was Dominique Dawes, a world class gymnast who won a team gold metal and an individual bronze metal for the floor exercise at the 1996 Olympics. Dawes is also a graduate of Gaithersburg High School and Co-Chair of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition. She spoke of the ongoing need for motivation and perseverance to lead a healthy lifestyle, pointing out that even though she is a former athlete, she still has to work at being healthy.

The 12-week "On the Move" program began in September and was designed as a competition to encourage teachers and all levels of staff to better their lifestyle by exercising and eating a healthy diet. Kaiser Permanente supplied $100,000 worth of support in incentives, education, and prizes, including awards for individuals, teams, and schools. Participants logged activity in an online software program.

“This began when [MCPS Superintendent] Dr. Jerry Weast and [Kaiser Permanente's Vice President] Karen Blair were discussing better ways for us to partner with each other," said Dr. Farzaneh Sabi, the Assistant Physician-in-Chief for Kaiser Permanente's physician group.

In the spring of 2010, Weast and Blair decided to start a wellness program and enlisted Dr. Sabi along with six elementary school principals and others in a steering committee.

“Most of the work and planning happened last summer,” said one of those original school principals, Debra Berner of William Tyler Page Elementary, “We worked with Karen [Blair] and Dr. Sabi and the other people from Kaiser Permanente. We came up with the name 'On the Move' and started the planning committee to initiate the program into the schools.”

Sabi said they saw the project as a way to support the community.

“We are lucky that Kaiser has a large and enthusiastic physician group.” Dr. Sabi said, “We are always looking for ways that we can share out expertise with each other and with the community. We, the doctors involved, have an investment here. Our patients, our community, our own children are in these schools.”

Berner said that when they began the planning, Dr. Frieda Lacy, Deputy Superintendent of Schools, thought several schools would be interested, but they all quickly saw that it was going to be bigger than they originally thought. They ended up with the participation of all 131 elementary schools in the district as well as the district's main office staff and the MCSP Department of Transportation.

Kaiser Permanents CEO, Carrie Harris-Muller, noted during her ceremony presentation, that more than 5300 staff and teachers participated in the program, signing into the website more than 58,000 times to update activity and nutrition logs during the program.

Each school or group had a head coach and divided up into teams to help each other through the program. Team names were chosen within the team to foster camaraderie. Different school coaches did different things to motivate the staff.

The success of this program has prompted the school district to create a new staff position within the MCPS benefits department. Lisa Cooperstein is taking on the role of Wellness Coordinator for the district. She spoke briefly at the ceremony to introduce phase two of MCPS's ongoing wellness initiative that will begin in March and focus on nutrition.

The final winners were:

School Awards

School overall Highest Activity Grande Prize–$25,000 – Highland Elementary School

School overall Highest Body Mass Index Decrease Award –$10,000 – Burnt Mills Elementary School

School overall Spirit Award (highest staff participation) – $5,000 – Oakland Terrace Elementary School

Team Awards

Team Highest Body Mass Index Decrease Award – Spa Weekend for each person on the team

Team “U may hate my guts, but I hope u lose” of Rosemont Elementary School

Members – Marilyn Medoff, Kristy Permisohn, James Sweeney, Chris Ricchini, Terri Bowden, Jill McDonald, and CatherineYoung. Charissa Liburd was the coach for Rosemont Elementary School

Two teams with Highest BMI Decrease Award – WiiFit for each person on the team:

1. Team “Second Grade Slugs” of Fox Chapel Elementary School

Members – Lorinda Lane, Bob Ryder, Diana Daca, Pam Liverman, Anne Marie Mumper, Karen Hoover, Stacey Fort, Ester Washington, Tina Engler

2. Team “Negative Numbers with Positive Pay off” of Burnt Mills

Members – Lisa Thomas, Aleyda Portillo-Holsey, Shirline Juggins, Carmen Torres, Deborah Garcia, Brunette Kazzi, Stephanie Bolden, Theresa Chin, Sorie Kanu, Shiasia Coward

Three Team with Highest Activity Award – WiiFit for each person on the team

1. Team “Healy’s Heros” of Beall Elementary School

Members – Rob Healy, Adam Striegel, Carolina Kindel, Chris Lyons, Heather Schaeffer, Shoshanah Drake, Linda Hoffsis, Michael Thanos, Cynthia Kuhn

2. Team “Biggest Losers” of William Tyler Page Elementary School

Members – Stacy Watkins, Kathy Daniello, Alyssa Bowlby, Scott Martin, Kate Becknell, Gail Mroczka Jacqueline Sherry, Meliss Merz, DeeAnn Klingner, Matt Augustin

3. Team “Green Gators” of William B. Gibbs Jr. Elementary School

Members – Latoya Hughes, Ronni Herwood, Ilana Sushner, Kristen Hostler Jessica Medeiros, Patricia Mstowski, Kathryn Ugolini, Janet Carroll ,Dana Walker, Tom Benco

Individual Awards

Highest Body Mass Index Decrease Awards – $100 Nike.com gift card :

Connie Knowlton of Georgian Forest Elementary School, -5.8

Marilynn Fortner of Sherwood Elementary School, -5.6

Allison Castel of Luxmanor Elementary School, -4.9

Carrie Zimmerman of Fox Chapel Elementary School, -4.6

Amy Alonso of Strathmore Elementary School, -4.2

Spirit Awards – $100 Nike.com gift card.

Lisa Suchland of Olney Elementary School

Jade Pridgeon of Carl Sandburg Learning Center

Latoya Hughes of William B. Gibbs Elementary School

Lorinda Lane Fox of Chapel Elementary School

Tracey Witthaus Highland Elementary School