Code No. 507.10
Student Personnel
Wellness Policy
The board promotes healthy students by supporting wellness, good nutrition and regular physical activity as a part of the total learning environment. The school district supports a healthy environment where students learn and participate in positive dietary and lifestyle practices. By facilitating learning through the support and promotion of good nutrition and physical activity, schools contribute to the basic health status of students. Improved health optimizes student performance potential.
The school district provides a comprehensive learning environment for developing and practicing lifelong wellness behaviors. The entire school environment, not just the classroom, shall be aligned with healthy school district goals to positively influence a student's understanding, beliefs and habits as they relate to good nutrition and regular physical activity.
The school district supports and promotes proper dietary habits contributing to students' health status and academic performance. Foods should be served with consideration toward nutritional integrity, variety, appeal, taste, safety and packaging to ensure high-quality meals.
The school district has made every effort to eliminate any social stigma attached to, and prevent the overt identification of, students who are eligible for free and reduced-price meals. Toward this end, the school district utilizes electronic identification and payment systems; promotes the availability of meals to all students; and/or investigates the use of nontraditional methods for serving meals, such as "grab-and-go" or classroom breakfast.
The school district will develop a local wellness policy committee comprised of representatives of the board, parents, leaders in food/exercise authority and employees. The local wellness policy committee will develop a plan to implement and measure the local wellness policy and monitor the effectiveness of the policy. The superintendent will designate an individual to monitor implementation and evaluation the implementation of the policy. A report will be made annually to the board regarding the effectiveness of this policy.
Specific Wellness Goals
• for nutrition education, (Appendix A)
For the nutrition guidelines for all foods available with the objective of promoting student health and reducing childhood obesity in the school district see Appendix D.
The board will monitor and evaluate this policy as described in Appendix E.
Legal Reference: Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, 42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq. (2005)
Child Nutrition Act of 1966, 42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.,
Approved: May 15, 2006
Reviewed:
Revised:
Nutrition Education and Promotion
The school district will provide nutrition education and engage in nutrition promotion that:
· is offered at each grade level as part of the health and/or science curriculum designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to promote and protect their health;
· is part of not only health education classes, but also classroom instruction in subjects such as math, science, language arts, social sciences and elective subjects;
· includes enjoyable, developmentally appropriate, culturally relevant participatory activities, i.e. contests, promotions, taste-testing, farm visits and school gardens;
· promotes fruits, vegetables, whole-grain products, low-fat and fat-free dairy products, healthy food preparation methods and health-enhancing nutrition practices;
· emphasizes caloric balance between food intake and physical activity;
· links with meal programs, other foods and nutrition-related community services; and,
· includes training for teachers and other staff.
Physical Activity
Physical Education
The school district will provide physical education that:
· is for all students in grades K-12 for the entire school year;
· is taught by a certified physical education teacher;
· includes students with disabilities, students with special health-care needs may be provided in alternative educational settings; and,
· engages students in moderate to vigorous activity during at least 50 percent of physical education class time.
Daily Recess
Elementary schools should provide recess for students that:
· is at least 20 minutes a day;
· is preferably outdoors;
· encourages moderate to vigorous physical activity verbally and through the provision of space and equipment; and,
· discourages extended periods (i.e., periods of two or more hours) of inactivity.
When activities, such as mandatory school-wide testing, make it necessary for students to remain indoors for long periods of time, schools should give students periodic breaks during which they are encouraged to stand and be moderately active.
Physical Activity and Punishment
Employees are encouraged to not use physical activity (e.g., running laps, pushups) or withhold opportunities for physical activity (e.g., recess, physical education) as punishment for extended periods of time.
Other School-Based Activities That Promote Student Wellness
For students to receive the nationally recommended amount of daily physical activity and for students to fully embrace regular physical activity as a personal behavior, students need opportunities for physical activity beyond the physical education class. Toward that end, the school district will:
- offer classroom health education that complements physical education by reinforcing the knowledge and self-management skills needed to maintain a physically active lifestyle and to reduce time spent on sedentary activities;
- discourage sedentary activities, such as watching television, playing computer games, etc.;
- provide opportunities for physical activity to be incorporated into other subject lessons; and,
- encourage classroom teachers to provide short physical activity breaks between lessons or classes, as appropriate.
The school district will support parents’ efforts to provide a healthy diet and daily physical activity for their children. The school district will:
- send home nutrition information, post nutrition tips on school web sites and provide nutrient analyses of school menus;
- encourage parents to pack healthy lunches and snacks and to refrain from including beverages and foods that do not meet the established nutrition standards for individual foods and beverages;
- provide parents a list of foods that meet the school district’s snack standards and ideas for healthy celebrations/parties, rewards and fundraising activities;
- provide opportunities for parents to share their healthy food practices with others in the school community;
- provide information about physical education and other school-based physical activity opportunities before, during and after the school day;
- support parents’ efforts to provide their children with opportunities to be physically active outside of school; and,
- include sharing information about physical activity and physical education through a web site, newsletter, other take-home materials, special events or physical education homework.
The school district will:
- encourage an increase in offerings of foods and beverages that meet the nutrition standards for meals or for foods and beverages sold individually;
- discourage school-based marketing of brands promoting predominantly low-nutrition foods and beverages;
- promote healthy foods, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products; and
- market activities that promote healthful behaviors (and are therefore allowable) including: vending machine covers promoting water; pricing structures that promote healthy options in a la carte lines or vending machines; sales of fruit for fundraisers; and other appropriate marketing activities.
The school district values the health and well-being of every staff member and will plan and implement activities and policies that support personal efforts by staff to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The district will
- establish and maintain a staff wellness committee composed of at least one staff member from each building, school nurse (s), local hospital representative, dietitian or other health professional, recreation program representative, union representatives and administrator(s).
- develop, promote, and oversee a multifaceted plan to promote staff health and wellness developed by the staff wellness committee;
- base the plan on input solicited from employees and outline ways to encourage healthy eating, physical activity and other elements of a healthy lifestyle among employees.
Nutrition Guidelines for All Foods Available on Campus
School Meals
Meals served through the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs will:
· be appealing and attractive to children;
· be served in clean and pleasant settings;
· meet, at a minimum, nutrition requirements established by local, state and federal law;
· offer a variety of fruits and vegetables;
· serve low-fat (1%) and fat-free milk and nutritionally equivalent non-dairy alternatives (as defined by the USDA); and,
· work towards half of the served grains being whole grain.
Schools should:
- engage students and parents, through taste-tests of new entrees and surveys, in selecting foods offered through the meal programs in order to identify new, healthful and appealing food choices; and
- share information about the nutritional content of meals with parents and students
Breakfast
To ensure that all children have breakfast, either at home or at school, in order to meet their nutritional needs and enhance their ability to learn, schools will:
· operate the breakfast program, to the extent possible;
· utilize methods to serve breakfasts that encourage participation, including “grab-and-go” breakfasts or breakfast during morning break or recess, to the extent possible;
· notify parents and students of the availability of the School Breakfast Program, where available; and,
· encourage parents to provide a healthy breakfast for their children through newsletter articles, take-home materials or other means.
Free and Reduced-Priced Meals
The school district will make every effort to eliminate any social stigma attached to, and prevent the overt identification of, students who are eligible for free and reduced-price meals. Toward this end, the school district
· utilizes electronic identification and payment systems;
· promote the availability of meals to all students.
Meal Times and Scheduling
The school district:
· will normally provide students with at least 10 minutes to eat after sitting down for breakfast and 20 minutes after sitting down for lunch;
· should schedule meal periods at appropriate times; should not schedule tutoring, club or organizational meetings or activities during mealtimes, unless students may eat during such activities;
· will provide students access to hand washing or hand sanitizing before they eat meals or snacks; and,
· should take reasonable steps to accommodate the tooth-brushing regimens of students with special oral health needs (e.g., orthodontia or high tooth decay risk).
Qualification of Food Service Staff
Qualified nutrition professionals will administer the meal programs. As part of the school district’s responsibility to operate a food service program, the school district will:
· provide continuing professional development for all nutrition professionals; and,
· provide staff development programs that include appropriate certification and/or training programs for child nutrition directors, nutrition managers and cafeteria workers, according to their levels of responsibility.
Sharing of Foods
The school district discourages students from sharing their foods or beverages with one another during meal or snack times, given concerns about allergies and other restrictions on some children’s diets.
Foods Sold Within the School Day, Outside the Meal (e.g. vending, a la carte, sales)
Elementary: The food service program will approve and provide all food and beverage sales to students in elementary school. To this end:
· food in elementary schools should be sold as balanced meals, given young children’s limited nutrition skills; and,
· foods and beverages sold individually should be limited to low-fat and non-fat milk, fruits and non-fried vegetables.
Secondary schools: In middle and high schools, all foods and beverages sold individually outside the reimbursable meal programs (including those sold through a la carte [snack] lines, vending machines, student stores or fundraising activities) during the school day will include healthy options.
To support children’s health and school nutrition-education efforts, school fundraising activities will encourage the sale of foods that meet the above nutrition and portion size standards for foods and beverages sold individually. The school district encourages fundraising activities that promote physical activity.
Snacks served during the school day will make a positive contribution to children’s diets and health, with an emphasis on serving fruits and vegetables as the primary snacks and water and milk as the primary beverages. Schools will assess if and when to offer snacks based on timing of meals, children’s nutritional needs, children’s ages and other considerations. The school district will disseminate a list of healthful snack items to staff and parents.
When food or beverages are used as a reward, the school encourages the use of foods and beverages with nutritional value. In addition, the school will not withhold food or beverages as a punishment.
Schools should evaluate their celebrations practices that involve food during the school day. The school district will disseminate a list of healthy party ideas to parents and teachers.
Foods and beverages offered or sold at school-sponsored events outside the school day shall also include items of nutritional value.
All foods made available on campus adhere to food safety and security guidelines.
Plan for Measuring Implementation
The superintendent will ensure compliance with established school district-wide nutrition and physical activity wellness policies.
In each school:
In the school district:
To help with the initial development of the school district’s wellness policies, each school in the school district will conduct a baseline assessment of the school’s existing nutrition and physical activity environments and practices. The results of those school-by-school assessments will be compiled at the school district level to identify and prioritize needs.
Assessments will be repeated every three years to help review policy compliance, assess progress and determine areas in need of improvement. As part of that review, the school district will review the nutrition and physical activity policies and practices and the provision of an environment that supports healthy eating and physical activity. The school district, and individual schools within the school district will, revise the wellness policies and develop work plans to facilitate their implementation.