Minutes of the March 30, 2004 meeting of the Commissioners at 600 Grant at 7:30 am - 9:00 a.m.

Present: Co-chairs Elaine Berman, DPS Board of Education and Dr. Reggie Washington, pediatric cardiologist and co-chair of the American Academy of Pediatric's National Task Force on Childhood Obesity; James Hill, UCHSC; Rick Metz, CAHPERD; Melissa Parker,UNC; Darryl Moore, Governer's Council/Physical Fitness; Peggy Vigil, CO Sprgs District 11;Mary Lou Miller, Jeffco PE Coord; Dr. Sandy Stenmark, Kaiser Permanente; Dr. Nancy Krebs, UCHSC/TCH, Cathy Romaniello, UCHSC; Andrea Dunn, Cooper Institute: Dr. David Kaplan,UCHSC/TCH; Dr. Paul Melinkovich, Denver Health; Jillian Jacobellis, CDPHE; Tami Anderson, WDC; Marilyn Day, TCH, Donna Wittrock, DPS; Evie Dennis,fmr DPS Supt.; Happy Haynes, Mayor's Office; Angela Baier, City and City of Denver

Absent: Lisa Perry, CDE

Guests: Jerry Wartgow, Supt. Denver Public Schools

Dr. Wartgow thanked the commissioners for their willingness to serve and expressed his hope that promotion of healthy lifestyles would immediately support the district's academic goals of improving performance and closing.

Elaine Berman began the meeting with a review of the events leading up to the resolution that created the Commission. She noted that the schools have a major role to play in combating the upsurge in childhood obesity and that the commission's work would enable the district to do a much better job at promoting healthy lifestyles for students.

Dr. Washington defined the role and responsibility of the co-chairs as being facilitators of the process so that the expertise and talent of the commissioners could be brought bear on the problem of student health. It is the commission's mission to recommend changes in District policy that will facilitate students' lifelong learning about their health.

There was a brief presentation of the scope of work and the need for a conflict of interest agreement among the participants. The commissioners then introduced themselves and shared their professional focus, their history with the issues in nutrition and physical activity and their hopes for the commission process and outcomes.

The group then discussed potential timetables, meeting topics, potential field trips, methods of data collection and sources, and review of existing literature from other national programs.

The Commission agreed that we will begin with a presentation on Physical Education by Eric Larson in May and will continue with an in-depth discussion in June.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 am.