INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to determine whether school districts throughout a rural western state employed school health coordinators, or at least employed individuals who possessed the skills that are suggested for school health coordinators. METHODS: Baseline data were collected soliciting the involvement of all 48 state school districts and the state girl's school (N=49). The 33-item paper-pencil survey was comprised primarily of fixed-response items and several open-ended questions. Survey questions focused on the responsibilities of the school health coordinator, administrator support for coordinated school health, demographic information on the coordinator, whether the individual had an official job title and job description that reflected coordinator responsibilities, and personal training needs around school health coordination. In February 2002, the survey was mailed out to individuals in all school districts in the state and, in addition, a representative from the state girl's school. RESULTS: Thirty-seven of the 49 districts responded to the survey (75.5%). Identified school health coordinators were predominantly health and physical education teachers. Most coordinators spent minimal time (less than 10% of the time) each week on school health coordination activities; nearly half identified little or no coordination of school health efforts in their school districts; few identified personal involvement in budgetary matters concerning school health; and most identified their primary teaching responsibilities as the areas where the majority of their time was spent. DISCUSSION: Data collected help create a profile of the “typical” district level school health coordinator in this frontier state and can assist in the development of future efforts aimed at school health coordination through the work of district level school health coordinators. However it should be noted that the mere existence of a school health coordinator does not necessarily lead to a well organized Coordinated School Health Program (CSHP). RECOMMENDATIONS: Based on these findings, recommendations include: 1) creating job descriptions that include school health coordination responsibilities and identifying within the job description a percent-time that should be allotted to school health coordination, 2) educating school superintendents and other administrators about the potential utility of CSHP and the related need for a CSHP coordinator, and 3) providing more pre-service and in-service opportunities to train school health coordinators in skills essential to the task of school health coordination.