A teacher raises his hand for a high five with a student. The teacher is holding a yellow ball while the child is holding a yellow hula hoop. They're inside a gymnasium with red bleachers behind them, collapsed against a wall

Garrett Tyson, a physical education teacher at Deep Springs Elementary (Fayette County), high fives a student during a class activity. Photo by Joe Ragusa, Kentucky Department of Education, Oct. 21, 2025

Thirty-one Kentucky school districts have earned recognition on the Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s list of America’s Healthiest Schools.

The annual honor is awarded to schools that implement practices supporting the health of students, staff and families.

The award evaluates schools across nine key areas: school health services, wellness policy implementation, nutrition and food access, physical activity, health education, social-emotional learning, tobacco-free environments, staff well-being, and family and community engagement. Schools that meet all nine areas receive the All-Star distinction.

To qualify, schools must submit evidence of wellness activities enforced throughout the school year.

The full list of schools and districts can be found on the Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s America’s Healthiest Schools website.

Barren County

CheyAnne Fant, food service director at Barren County, explained the district’s journey began years ago when the Alliance for a Healthier Generation encouraged the district to apply, noting they were already meeting many of the criteria.

“We wanted to … showcase all the wonderful things going on in Barren County, and what better way to do it than to apply for this recognition,” she said. “It’s been a great learning experience.”

Barren County offers a variety of wellness programs that support each key area, including school health services, nutrition, physical activity, social-emotional learning, staff well-being and community engagement. Eight of the district’s nine schools were recognized as All Stars.

The district’s programs include one of Kentucky’s largest summer feeding initiatives, serving 3,500 students daily, promoting physical activity through walking trails and intramural sports and supporting mental health with services from Cumberland Family Medical. Their 95210 wellness initiative also encourages healthy habits among students and staff with monthly incentives. They must consistently achieve nine hours of sleep, five servings of fruits and vegetables for nutrition, two hours or less of screen time, one hour of physical activity and consume zero sugary drinks.

“We’re promoting healthy choices no matter what we do,” Fant said.

To evaluate program success, Barren County distributes annual surveys to students, staff and parents to gather feedback and set goals for the following year.

Fant encourages schools to “take baby steps,” noting that change takes time and works best when focusing on one improvement at a time.

Western Kentucky

Kelcey Rutledge, director at Baptist Health Deaconess Madisonville, described the recognition as validation for their school wellness program

Baptist Health Deaconess Madisonville, funded by the Delta States Rural Development Network Grant Program from the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, provides schools with a model for implementing wellness committees and offers physical activity curriculum for classroom use.

“We provide them with GoNoodle, which is an online video suite, and teachers can play the videos. It incorporates education and infuses it into exercise and physical activities.” Rutledge said.

Rutledge emphasized that while the program provides resources, each school’s wellness committee retains control over wellness issues relevant to its community.

“They each have their own autonomy to assess and address areas of concern that are important and feasible to them,” Rutledge said.

He explained that the program is designed to complement the CDC’s Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child model, requiring wellness leadership groups to include administration, staff, students, parents and community organizations for well-rounded input.

Rutledge noted initial challenges in establishing relationships, geographic limitations, staff size and retention, as well as the need to reinforce connections at the district and administrative levels.

“When we first started, of course, we were headquartered in Madisonville, and we had to go out and establish those relationships with the individuals we didn’t know, so just getting to know the individuals there,” he said.

Rutledge said the biggest challenge and something they continue to work towards is reestablishing and solidifying relationships among the administrative levels.

For schools pursuing recognition, Rutledge advises taking a well-rounded approach.

“Make sure you have a well-rounded approach and involve individuals that have that desire to excel. All our programmatic requirements are aligned to complement what the Department of Education requires, but we go a few steps further. That’s how we promote our program.”

Fayette County

Fayette County was inspired to pursue recognition to showcase its hard work.

Adam Kirk, principal of Deep Springs Elementary, acknowledges the commitment that staff and students have shown to remain healthy.

“We’ve worked hard to put things in place schoolwide,” he said.

Over the last few years, Deep Springs has focused on culture building, behavior, family and community engagement, and wellness for adults, staff and students.

“We thought, you know what? It’s time to showcase that and let folks see what we do that makes us great,” Kirk said.

Garrett Tyson, physical education (PE) teacher at Deep Springs, chairs a wellness committee that helps the school prioritize health and wellness for staff and students. He also helped establish the Family Community Engagement Committee, which plans events for students and their families to participate in together.

Deep Springs offers a variety of programs that promote healthy habits. For example, Kirk, a former PE teacher, leads an extreme hip-hop class for staff once a week. Students also have opportunities to take their learning outdoors for fresh air.

“I take pride in making it fun. I try and create games and activities that they don’t even know that they’re exercising. They don’t really realize that their heart rate is increasing, and their brain is starting to work, so when they go back to class, they’re ready to learn,” Tyson said.

Deep Springs emphasizes parental involvement by hosting events like PE Day and Wellness Night, allowing families to see how their children stay active and healthy at school and continue those habits at home.

Tyson encourages other schools to take pride in their programs.

The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE), a current five-year Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cooperative agreement recipient (DP-2302), continues to partner with schools and districts to improve student academic and health outcomes. Districts interested in enhancing school health programming, practices and policies should reach out to Stephanie Bunge, health program administrator at KDE.