507.09 - 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.  All foods available on school grounds and at school-sponsored activities during the instructional day should meet or exceed the school district nutrition standards.  Foods should be served with consideration toward nutritional integrity, variety, appeal, taste, safety and packaging to ensure high-quality 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 may utilize electronic identification and payment systems; promote the availability of meals to all students; and/or use nontraditional methods for serving meals, such as “grab-and-go” or classroom breakfast.

The school district will develop a local wellness policy and gather input from representatives of the board, parents, leaders in food/exercise authority and employees.  The school district will develop a plan to implement and measure the local wellness policy and monitor the effectiveness of the policy.  The principal will monitor implementation and evaluate the implementation of the policy.  The principal will report annually to the board regarding the effectiveness of this policy.

 

Specific Wellness Goals

I.  Nutrition Education and Promotion

The school district will provide nutrition education and engage in nutrition promotion that:

• Is offered at each grade level 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;
• 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; and
• Includes training for teachers and other staff.

 

II.  Physical Activity

A.  Daily Physical Education

The school district will provide physical education that:

• Is offered at least 50 minutes per week;
• Is for all students in grades K-6 for the entire school year;
• Is taught by a certified physical education teacher;
• Engages students in moderate to vigorous activity during at least 50 percent of physical education class time.

 

B.  Daily Recess

Elementary schools will provide recess for students that:

• Is at least 20 minutes a day;
• Is preferably outdoors.

III.  Communication with Parents

The school district will support parents’ efforts to provide a healthy diet and daily physical activity for their children.  The school district will:

• 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 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.

IV.  Food Marketing in Schools

School-based marketing will be consistent with nutrition education and health promotion.  The school district will:

• Promote healthy foods, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products; and
• Market activities that promote healthful behaviors and may include: 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 coupons for discount gym memberships.

 

V.  Nutrition Guidelines for All Foods Available on Campus

A.  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,
• Ensure that some of the served grains are whole grain.
• 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.

 

B. 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;
• Arrange bus schedules and utilize methods to serve breakfasts that encourage participation; and,
• Notify parents and students of the availability of the School Breakfast Program.

 

C.  Free and Reduced-Price 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 may:

• Utilize electronic identification and payment systems;
• Promote the availability of meals to all students.

 

D.  Meal Times and Scheduling

The school district:

• Will provide students with at least 10 minutes to eat after sitting down for breakfast and 20 minutes after sitting down for lunch;
• Will schedule meal periods at appropriate times, e.g. lunch should be scheduled between 11:00 a.m. and 1 p.m.; 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,
• Will take reasonable steps to accommodate the tooth-brushing regimens of students with special oral health needs (e.g. orthodontia or high tooth decay risk).

 

E.  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.

 

F.  Foods Sold Outside the Meal (e.g. vending, a la carte, sales)

       1)  Beverages

• Allowed: water or seltzer water without added caloric sweeteners; fruit and vegetable juices and fruit-based drinks that contain at least 50 percent fruit juice and that do not contain additional caloric sweeteners; unflavored or flavored low-fat or fat-free milk and nutritionally equivalent nondairy beverages (as defined by the USDA).
• Discouraged: soft drinks containing caloric sweeteners; sports drinks; iced teas; fruit-based drinks that contain less than 50 percent real fruit juice or that contain additional caloric sweeteners; beverages containing caffeine, excluding low-fat or fat-free chocolate milk (which contain minimal amounts of caffeine).

2)   Foods

A food item sold individually:

• Will have no more than 40 percent of its calories from fat (excluding nuts, seeds, peanut butter and other nut butters) and 10 percent of its calories from saturated and trans fat combined;
• Will include a choice of fruits and/or non-fried vegetables for sale at any location on the school site where foods are sold.

Examples:  Food items could include, but are not limited to, fresh fruits and vegetables; 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice; fruit-based drinks that are at least 50 percent fruit juice and that do not contain additional caloric sweeteners; cooked, dried or canned fruits (canned in fruit juice or light syrup); and cooked, dried or canned vegetables (that meet the above fat and sodium guidelines).

        3)  Fundraising Activities

        To support children’s health and school nutrition-education efforts, school fundraising activities will

        discourage food sales that would not meet nutrition guidelines outlined above.  The school district

        encourages fundraising activities that promote physical activity.

        4)   Foods Brought From Home/Classroom Snacks/Parties

        Snacks served in the classroom must be fresh fruit/vegetables or PREPACKAGED items.            

        (Prepackaged:  Items that are prepared in a licensed facility; for example, bakery or store bought.) 

        No home prepared food products.  Serving potentially hazardous foods brought from home can place

        our students at risk for food borne illness.

        5)  Rewards

        The school district will not use foods or beverages; especially those that do not meet the nutrition  standards for foods and beverages sold individually, as rewards for academic performance or good behavior, and will not withhold food or beverages (including food served though meals) as a punishment. 

        6)  Celebrations       

       The school district will disseminate a list of healthy party ideas to parents and teachers.

 

PLAN FOR MEASURING IMPLEMENTATION

The board will monitor and evaluate this policy.

I.  Monitoring

The superintendent will ensure compliance with established school district-wide nutrition and physical activity wellness policies.

In the school district:

• The principal will ensure compliance with those policies in the school and will report on the school’s compliance to the superintendent; and,
• Food service staff will ensure compliance with nutrition policies within food service areas and will report on this matter to the superintendent or principal.
• The superintendent will develop a summary report every three years on school district-wide compliance with the school district’s established nutrition and physical activity wellness policies, based on input from schools within the school district.

 

II.  Policy Review

To help with the initial development of the school district’s wellness policies, the school 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 five 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 will revise the wellness policies and develop work plans to facilitate their implementation.

 

 

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.,

Cross Reference:  504.6   Student Activity Program
                                      710      School Food Services

Approved:  7-17-06, 2-12-07, 10-10-11, 2 -8-16, 2-13-19
Reviewed:  2-12-07, 9-19-11, 10-10-11, 2 -8-16, 2-13-19
Revised:  9-19-11