Tips for Preparing a School Wellness Policy
The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization of 2004 (Public Law 108-265) signed by President Bush on June 30, 2004 requires every school district to produce a local wellness policy.
What must the wellness policies include?
The minimum requirements include the following:
- Goals for nutrition education, physical activity, and other school-based activities designed to promote student wellness in a manner that the local educational agency determines appropriate.
- Nutrition guidelines selected by the local educational agency for all food available on each school campus under the local educational agency during the school day with the objectives of promoting student health and reducing childhood obesity.
- Assurance that guidelines for reimbursable school meals shall not be less restrictive than regulations and guidance issued by the Secretary of Agriculture pursuant to the Child Nutrition Action and National School Lunch Act.
- A plan for measuring implementation of the local wellness policy, including designation of one or more persons within the local educational agency or at each school, as appropriate, charged with operational responsibility for ensuring that the school meets the local wellness policy.
- Involvement by parents,
students, representatives of the
school food authority, the
school board, school
administrators, and the public in developing the school wellness policy.
Additional information is available at this Web site: www.fns.usda.gov/tn/Healthy/wellnesspolicy.html
What can schools do now?
1. Assemble the school’s
wellness policy team
2. Assess current school
environment. The following resources may help:
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Action for Healthy Kids (AFHK) - www.actionforhealthykids.org
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Changing the Scene: Improving the School Nutrition Environment - www.fns.usda.gov/tn/Healthy/
kit.html -
Eat Smart and Move More - www.eatsmartmovemorenc.com/ESMMmaterials/SchoolFoodsStandards.pdf
-
Fit, Healthy and Ready to Learn - National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) -
www.nasbe.org/HealthySchools/index.html -
Iowa State University Extension (ISUE) - www.extension.iastate.edu/nutrition/
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Keys to Excellence (School Nutrition Association) - www.asfsa.org/keys/
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Making it Happen: School Nutrition Success Stories - www.fns.usda.gov/tn/Healthy/execsummary_makingithappen.html
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National Alliance for Nutrition and Activity model wellness policies - http://www.schoolwellnesspolicies.org/
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School Foods Tool Kit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) - www.cspinet.org/schoolfood/
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School Health Index Centers for Disease Control - http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/shi/
Download the Tips for Preparing a School Wellness Policy - N 3469 (pdf) publication for more information.