Alternatives Generation Paper: Better Wellness Practices for Students & Educators of SDP

Abstract:

This study addresses the problem of inadequate wellness practices in SDP and employs a rational decision-making methodology to handle all pertinent inquiries. Implementing wellness programs, encompassing nutrition education, physical exercise, mental health counselling, and chronic illness management, is crucial in fostering overall well-being within the diverse school community. As conceptualized by Bazerman and Moore (2013), the decision-making process facilitates identifying errors, establishing criteria for their resolution, selecting several options, and comparing their respective importance scores. The proposal aims to implement a comprehensive wellness program that centres around the Whole School, Whole Community, and wave Child approach. Alternatives are evaluated by carefully considering key factors, such as student accomplishment, teacher retention, staff morale, and community involvement, to achieve a balanced assessment.

The decision aligns with the SDP’s objective of providing high-quality education. Also, it seeks to improve the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of all members of the entire school community. The ethical and spiritual examination enhances the concepts of stewardship, service, justice, and compassion, ensuring that your decision reflects responsible resource management and community support, fairness, and empathy. The proposed solution aims to remove financial restrictions and resource limitations, establishing a balanced educational environment where students, teachers, and staff unite to prioritize their well-being.

Keywords: Wellness practices, School District of Philadelphia, The rational decision-making model, Entire school community, Student achievement, teachers morale, justice and compassion

Introduction

Wellness strategies enhance the physical, mental, and emotional welfare of all school districts’ students, teachers, and staff. Physical activity is crucial in promoting the overall well-being of the school community. It is integral to policies, programs, and services that address nutrition education, mental health counselling, and chronic disease management. The Philadelphia School District’s mission statement aims to provide a superior education that guarantees all students’ preparation, assurance, and empowerment to achieve their maximum intellectual capacity, enabling them to become lifelong learners and active members of society. However, not all school districts possess adequate wellness policies due to budget constraints, limited resources, and conflicting objectives. Diversity can harm individuals in terms of their academic, social, and cultural experiences, as well as their performance, engagement, retention, satisfaction, morale, productivity, and sense of community within the school. This issue must be resolved by creating efficient solutions that target enhancing the well-being outcomes of the school community. This study will focus on the Philadelphia School District (SDP), one of the largest and most diverse public school districts. The SDP has encountered numerous difficulties implementing wellness practices for its school community. Regrettably, integrating wellness practices in SDP faces multiple barriers and gaps, including underfunded programs and a shortage of staff members, particularly for CLD students. This study will utilize the rational decision-making paradigm to tackle this issue. The logical decision-making model is a systematic and analytical strategy comprising four steps: defining a problem, identifying or outlining criteria, and evaluating options and topics to find the optimal course of action. The SDP should create an all-encompassing and integrated wellness program that caters to the needs of all stakeholders, including students, teachers, staff, parents, and community partners. After comparing it with other alternatives, this paper will argue that the chosen solution is optimal for this scenario based on defined criteria and weights.

Decision-Making Steps Process (Steps 1-4) Analysis

Defining the Problem

In the initial stage of the rational decision-making model, it is necessary to define the problem precisely to lay the groundwork for identifying the most favourable solution. However, some typical obstacles can hinder this process. Initially, it is challenging to categorize the circumstance unequivocally (Bazerman & Moore, 2013). The question, “Should we invest in online learning or face-to-face classes?” oversimplifies the matter by disregarding each choice’s potential advantages and disadvantages and neglecting the possibility of a hybrid or modified approach. Furthermore, an additional possible error involves framing the problem as the solution. This occurs when the issue is presented as a desired result or particular course of action rather than recognizing a lack or discrepancy in the current situation.

Simultaneously, an additional trap should be addressed, which is an underlying concern. This occurs when the issue is framed as “Our students lack motivation to learn,” which shifts the attention towards the symptom rather than the underlying causes, disregarding any factors that may influence student motivation. Additionally, it is essential to avoid the error of identifying the issue solely by its outward manifestations. This occurs when the issue is perceived in terms of its superficial characteristics or consequences rather than addressing it at its fundamental source. For example, stating, “Our test scores are low,” confuses the indicator or measurement of the problem with the problem itself and fails to address the possible causes behind these subpar test scores. Nevertheless, the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) encounters certain obstacles in promoting holistic wellness practices within schools to support its community’s health and general welfare. Wellness practices encompass a range of policies, programs, and services that prioritize promoting nutrition education, physical activity, mental health counselling, and managing chronic diseases.

Identifying the Criteria

In the rational decision-making paradigm, the second phase entails defining criteria. This involves creating a list and specifying the variables that need to be considered when evaluating alternatives or options for selecting a solution (Bazerman & Moore, 2013). These criteria should align with the goals and interests of decision-makers, relevant stakeholders, and end users.

Weighing the Criteria

An effective strategy involves a ranking methodology, wherein criteria are allocated to points or stars based on their hierarchical position and the numbers are translated into percentages (Knaflic, 2015). An alternative approach would involve implementing a grading system wherein each criterion is assigned scores or grades on a scale that may be converted into percentages. Alternatively, the pairwise comparison method is a viable approach where each criterion is systematically compared with every other criterion to evaluate their relative value. Percentages are then generated based on the frequency with which a particular criterion is chosen.

Table

Generating Alternatives 

It involves creating and executing a comprehensive wellness strategy at the district level that aligns with the whole school, whole community, and whole child paradigm. This framework provides a comprehensive approach for incorporating health objectives and practices into educational settings (Stefanovich, 2011). The wellness program will involve the establishment of a wellness committee and conducting an assessment to identify poor lifestyle patterns. This assessment will be shown as part of the Occupational Health Services Division’s general risk factors survey (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). This assessment aims to determine the baseline exposure levels of personnel to commonly accepted hazardous parameters. This will enable the evaluation of the effectiveness of control plans through comparison or other methods.

An additional option is to augment the funds designated for wellness practices in the district by actively seeking grants, contributions, partnerships, and sponsorships from various entities, including federal agencies, state agencies, local authorities, foundations, corporations, and NGOs (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). In addition, the organization will also cultivate connections with new and existing benefactors, collaborators, or patrons. It is imperative to consistently produce updates on the effects and results of their assistance. This encompasses providing feedback. The third alternative involves enhancing the knowledge and engagement of school personnel in wellness practices by implementing a health campaign. This campaign promotes healthy habits and lifestyles among children, teachers, staff members, parents, and community residents.

Mitigating Bias

Recognizing and confronting biases is a crucial component of the logical decision-making process, which involves identifying and preventing cognitive errors that might result in distorted judgment or biased choices. Biases can induce systematic deviations from reason by employing heuristics and effective mental shortcuts to simplify complex issues. Heuristics are generally advantageous and convenient in various scenarios, although they can occasionally result in erroneous or illogical choices, particularly under specific circumstances. Enhanced objectivity is achieved by actively testing assumptions by deliberately searching for evidence that may contradict them and adjusting pricing accordingly.

Ethical and Spiritual Analysis

The harmonious integration of ethical and spiritual elements is crucial in decision-making, as it necessitates thoughtful consideration of the moral and religious implications that one may encounter due to their chosen course of action. This includes considering the potential impact on those individuals directly affected by their decisions, regardless of who made them (Kahneman, 2011). The reflective analysis is conducted to connect it with one’s ethical principles, focusing on religious integration subjects such as stewardship, service, justice, and compassion, which are covered in this course.

Following Bazerman and Moore’s (2013) rational decision-making model, the decision-making process has been characterized by equity and openness through clearly defined stages: Identifying the problem definition, criterion identification, weighting criteria, and developing alternatives. Conscious of any prejudices, the procedure employed numerous dependable sources by considering various viewpoints and levels of expertise while tactfully incorporating feedback and ideas. The concept of the decision and its procedure benefit participants, members of the organization, and primary stakeholders to enhance wellness practices in the Philadelphia School District. It prioritizes the well-being of students, instructors, and staff to improve academic performance, engagement, retention, satisfaction, morale, and productivity. Additionally, it fosters social and cultural integration, inclusivity, diversity, and heightened engagement from parents and community collaborators.

Stewardship is emphasized as an issue of religious integration through the reasonable allocation of resources for the betterment of society (Vieten et al., 2013). It demonstrates service by attending to the school community’s needs and offering top-notch wellness practices. This decision exemplifies the principles of fairness and equity while recognizing every human’s inherent dignity and rights. The decision also demonstrates empathy, showing care for the well-being of the school community and users by helping them. The decision maker’s principles were influenced by their personal religious beliefs and a set of ethical standards.

In conclusion, addressing the issue of inadequate wellness practices in the School District of Philadelphia necessitates a comprehensive and well-planned solution. The rational decision-making model is a systematic approach that begins by clearly defining the problem. It then proceeds to determine the criteria necessary to address the issue. These criteria are carefully evaluated and compared from various viewpoints while considering all possible alternatives that may be advantageous. The suggested solution for the selected situation is establishing a comprehensive wellness plan at the district level based on the Whole School, Whole Community, and Its Child paradigm. To create a well-rounded assessment, the evaluation process considered several variables, such as student progress, teacher retention, staff morale, and community involvement. The proposed solution aims to tackle budget and resource constraints to establish a school climate that is inclusive and supportive, benefiting the mental and physical well-being of students, teachers, staff, and the community.

References

Bazerman, M. H., & Moore, D. A. (2013). Judgment in managerial decision making (8th ed.). John Wiley & Sons.

Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. (2016). School wellness in action: Stories from local school wellness leaders. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/npao/pdf/SchoolWellnessInAction.pdf;

Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018). Mental health action guide for district and school leaders. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/mental-health-action-guide/pdf/DASH_MH_Action_Guide_508.pdf

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Knaflic, C. N. (2015). Storytelling with data: A data visualization guide for business professionals. Wiley.

Stefanovich, A. (2011). Look at more: A proven approach to innovation, growth, and change. Jossey-Bass.

Vieten, C., Scammell, S., Pilato, R., Edmondson, I., Pargament, K. I., & Lukoff, D. (2013). Addressing religion and spirituality in psychotherapy: Ethical and clinical perspectives. Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy. https://societyforpsychotherapy.org/addressing-religion-and-spirituality-in-psychotherapy-ethical-and-clinical-perspectives/