THE EDINBURG COMMON SCHOOL DISTRICT'S WELLNESS POLICY ON PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND NUTRITION
INTRODUCTION
• Children need access to healthy foods and opportunities to be physically active in order to grow, learn, and thrive.
• Good health fosters student attendance and education.
• Obesity rates have doubled in children and tripled in adolescents over the last two decades.
• Up to 45 percent of new cases of childhood diabetes are associated with obesity.
• Between 56-85 percent of school-age children consume soda everyday.
• Only two percent of children (2 to 19 years) eat a healthy diet consistent with the five main recommendations from the Food Guide Pyramid.
The Edinburg Common School District is committed to provide a school environment that promotes and protects children's health, well-being, and ability to learn by supporting healthy eating and physical activity within fiscal and scheduling constraints. Therefore, it is the policy of the Edinburg Common School District that:
• The school district will engage students, parents, teachers, food service professionals, health professionals, and other interested community members in developing, implementing, monitoring, and reviewing district-wide nutrition and physical activity policies.
• All students in grades K-6 will have the opportunity, support, and encouragement to be physically active on a regular basis.
• Foods and beverages sold or served at school will meet the nutrition guidelines of the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
• The Edinburg Common School will participate in federal school meal programs (including the School Breakfast Program and National School Lunch Program).
• The Edinburg Common School will provide nutrition education and physical education to foster lifelong habits of healthy eating and physical activity.
TO ACHIEVE THESE POLICY GOALS:
1. School Health Councils
The school district will create, strengthen, and work within existing school health councils to develop, implement, monitor, review, and as necessary, revise school nutrition and physical activity policies. The councils will also serve as resources to school sites for implementing those policies.
A school health council should consist of the following:
• Parent
• School food representative
• School board member
• Administrator
• Teacher
• Health professional
• Prevention professional
II. Nutritional Quality of Foods and Beverages Sold and Served in School
School Meals
Meals served through the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs will:
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• be appealing and attractive to children.
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• be served in clean and pleasant settings.
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• meet, at a minimum, nutrition requirements established by state, and federal statutes and regulations.
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• offer a variety of fruits and vegetables.
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• serve only low-fat (1 percent) and fat-free milk.
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• ensure that half of the served grains are whole grain.
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• include whole foods rather than processed preservative-laden foods when possible.
The Edinburg Common School should engage students and staff through taste-tests of new entrees and surveys, for selecting foods sold through the school meal programs in order to identify new, healthful, and appealing food choices.
The Edinburg Common School will ensure that breakfast and lunch will be available to all students in order to meet their nutritional needs and enhance their ability to learn.
Free and Reduced-Price Meals
Edinburg Common School 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 school meals.
Meal Times and Scheduling
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• Provide students with at least 10 minutes to eat after sitting down for breakfast and 20 minutes after sitting down for lunch.
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• Schedule meal periods at appropriate times.
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• Provide students access to hand washing or hand sanitizing before they eat meals or snacks.
Sharing of Foods and Beverages
Edinburg Common School will discourage students from sharing their foods or beverages with one another during meal or snack times, due to concerns about allergies and other restrictions on some children's diets.
Beverages
In addition to 1 percent or skim milk, only water, fruit and vegetable juices and fruit-based drinks that are 100 percent fruit juice and that do not contain additional caloric sweeteners will be served.
Snacks & Rewards
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. The district will disseminate a list of healthful snack items to teachers, after-school program personnel, PTO, and parents.
School-Sponsored Events (such as, but not limited to, athletic events, dances, or performances)
Foods and beverages offered or sold at school-sponsored events outside the school day will meet the nutrition standards for meals or for foods and beverages sold individually (above).
III. Nutrition and Physical Activity Promotion and Food Marketing
Nutrition Education and Promotion
Edinburg Common School District aims to teach, encourage, and support healthy eating by students. Edinburg Common School will provide nutrition education and engage in nutrition promotion that:
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• is offered at each grade level as part of a sequential, comprehensive, standards-based program designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to promote and protect their health;
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• 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;
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• includes enjoyable, developmentally-appropriate, culturally-relevant, participatory activities, such as contests, promotions, taste testing;
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• promotes fruits, vegetables, whole grain products, low-fat and fat-free dairy products, healthy food preparation methods, and health-enhancing nutrition practices;
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• emphasizes caloric balance between food intake and physical activity/exercise.
Integrating Physical Activity into the Classroom Setting
Edinburg Common School District will encourage health instruction in health class and in the regular classroom.
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• Classroom health education will complement 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, such as watching television;
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• Opportunities for physical activity will be incorporated into the classroom setting.
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• The district will participate in initiatives that promote physical activities at home.
Communication with Parents
The Edinburg Common School District will support parents' efforts to provide a healthy diet and daily physical activity for their children. Semi-annually the Edinburg Common School District
will send home nutrition information and post nutrition tips on the school website that will encourage parents to make use of the list of healthy food suggestions for celebrations, parties, rewards and for packing lunches and snacks.
Food Marketing in Edinburg Common School
School-based marketing will be consistent with nutrition education and health promotion.
Staff Wellness
The Edinburg Common School District highly values the health and well-being of every staff member and will plan and implement activities and support facilities that will encourage personal efforts by staff to maintain a healthy lifestyle. These activities should encourage healthy eating, physical activity, and other elements of a healthy lifestyle among school staff.
IV. Physical Activity Opportunities and Physical Education
Physical Education
All students in grades K-6 will receive three days per week of physical education for
the entire school year. A certified physical education teacher will teach all physical education instruction.
Daily Recess
Elementary school students that are eligible receive at least 20 minutes a day of supervised recess, preferably outdoors, during which Edinburg Common School should verbally encourage moderate to vigorous physical activity and provide space and equipment.
Edinburg Common School will encourage students to have periodic breaks during which they are encouraged to stand and be moderately active.
Use of School Facilities Outside of School Hours
School facilities are available to students, staff, and community members after the school day.
V. Monitoring and Policy Review
Monitoring and Policy Review
The Wellness Committee will ensure compliance with established district-wide nutrition and physical activity wellness policies. The Committee will review the Wellness Policy every three years to assess progress and determine areas in need of improvement.
RESOURCES
1.
2. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, www.iom.edu/report.asp?id=22596
1.
2. Ten Strategies for Promoting Physical Activity, Healthy Eating, and a Tobacco-free Lifestyle through School Health Programs, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/publications/pdf/ten_strategies.pdf
1.
2. Health, Mental Health, and Safety Guidelines for Edinburg School, American Academy of Pediatrics and National Association of School Nurses, http://www.nationalguidelines.org
1.
2. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2005/document/
1.
2. Local Support for Nutrition Integrity in Schools, American Dietetic Association, www.eatright.org
1.
2. National Farm-to-School Program website, hosted by the Center for Food and Justice, www.farmtoschool.org
1.
2. Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program Resource Center, hosted by United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association, http://www.uffva.org/fvpilotprogram.htm
1.
2. Constructive Classroom Rewards, Center for Science in the Public Interest, www.cspinet.org/nutritionpolicy/constructive_rewards.pdf
1.
2. Guide to Healthy School Parties, Action for Healthy Kids of Alabama, www.actionforhealthykids.org
1.
2. U.S. Department of Agriculture Team Nutrition website (lists nutrition education curricula
and links to them), www.fns.usda.gov
1.
2. Brain Breaks, Michigan Department of Education, www.emc.cmich.edu/brainbreaks
1.
2. Energizes, East Carolina University, www.ncpe4me.com/energizers.html
THE EDINBURG COMMON SCHOOL DISTRICT
WELLNESS POLICYON PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND NUTRITION
May 9, 2006
Adopted by Board of Trustees