Agenda

September 19, 2006

At the June 13, 2006 Wellness meeting, the following topics were slated for discussion for the 2006-07 school year. These 5 topics will drive the agendas for the year

 More community involvement (Fitness Center)
 Expanding physical education offerings
 Nutritional education (for students staff and community members)
 Looking at alternatives for recreational activity during the school day for students
 Cafeteria offerings

Wellness Committee Members for the 2006-07 School year are:

Charlotte Gregory  Al Wojtaszek  Dan Grecco  
Denise Farragher  Jill Decker  Rose Paolini
June Lombardi  Peggy Ducey  Kathleen Herling
Kelly Doherty   Mary Paige Lang Clouse

Meeting Dates and Times:

The Wellness Committee will me at 8:30 AM in the Superintendent’s Office on the following dates (no December meeting has been scheduled):

September 19, 2006 

October 18, 2006 

November 21, 2006 

January 16, 2007 

February 20, 2007 

March 20, 2007  

April 17, 2007 

May 15, 2007  

June 20, 2007
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The following Wellness Policy was approved by  the Board of Education on Juine 8, 2006:

 
WELLNESS POLICY ON NUTRITION AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

Preamble: The Eldred Central School District Wellness Policy is based on the following
beliefs:
 Children need access to healthful foods and opportunities to be physically active in order to grow, learn, and thrive.
 Good health fosters student attendance and education.
 Obesity rates have increased at an alarming rate and physical inactivity and excessive caloric intake are predominant causes of obesity.
 Heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes are leading causes of deaths in the United States.  Major risk factors for those diseases, include
unhealthy eating habits, physical inactivity, and obesity.  These risk factors are often established in childhood.
 Nationally, the items most commonly sold in vending machines, school stores, and snack bars include low-nutrition foods and beverages, such as soda, sport drinks, imitation fruit juices, chips, candy, cookies, and snack cakes.
 Therefore, the Eldred Central School District is committed to providing a school environment that promotes and protects the health, safety and well-being of our children by supporting healthy eating and physical activity.

Wellness Policy Goals: Based on the beliefs outlined in the preamble, it is the policy of the Eldred Central School District:

A. We will engage students, parents, staff members, food service professionals, health professionals, and other interested community members in developing,
implementing, monitoring, and reviewing district-wide nutrition and physical activity policies.

B. All students who attend school will have opportunities, support, and encouragement to be physically active on a regular basis.

C. Foods and beverages sold or served at school will meet the nutrition recommendations of the U.S. Dietary Guidelines For Americans.

D. Eldred Central School District staff will provide students with access to a variety of affordable, nutritious, and appealing foods that meet the health and nutrition needs of students; will provide clean, safe, and pleasant settings and time for students to eat.

E. To the maximum extent practicable, all Eldred Central School District programs will participate in available federal school meal programs.

F. The Eldred Central School District will provide nutrition education and physical education to foster lifelong habits of healthy eating and physical activity, and will establish linkages between health education and school meal programs.
NOTE: The regulation that accompanies this policy outlines the procedures for
accomplishing these wellness goals.

Legal Reference - Policy required under Section 204 of the Child Nutrition and Women,
Infants, and Children Reauthorization Act of2004 (pLI08-265)

Eldred Central School District
Adopted: June 8, 2006

Regulation

STRATEGIES FOR ACHIEVING OUR WELLNESS POLICY ON NUTRITION
AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

A. Establish a School Wellness Committee

The Eldred Central School District will establish and maintain a School Wellness Committee that will have representatives from the cafeteria, physical education, students, health education, nursing, administration, the school community and the School Board. The Wellness Committee will monitor, review, and, as necessary, recommend revision of school nutrition and physical activity policies. The Wellness Committee will also serve as a resource to school sites for implementing these policies.

B. Monitor nutritional quality of foods and beverages sold and served in all Eldred Central School District facilities

1. 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 statutes and regulations;
 Offer a variety of fruits and vegetables;
 Serve a variety of low-fat (1%) and fat-free milk and nutritionally equivalent non-dairy alternatives (to be defined by USDA); and
 Ensure that served grains are whole grain.
 The Eldred Central School District food service program will share information about the nutritional
content of meals with staff, students and parents. Such information may be made available on menus, the school website (www.eldredschools.org) or other point-of-purchase materials.

2. Breakfast. All children should have breakfast, either at home or at school, in order to meet their nutritional needs and enhance their ability to learn.  The Eldred Central School District will:

 to the extent possible, operate the School Breakfast Program at the George Ross Mackenzie Elementary School and notify parents and students of the availability of the School Breakfast Program.

3. Free and Reduced-Priced Meals. Schools 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-priced school meals.

4. Meal Times and Scheduling:

The Eldred Central School District will:

 Provide students with time for breakfast (at the George Ross Mackenzie Elementary School) and lunch;
 Schedule meal periods at appropriate times
 Not schedule tutoring, club, or organizational meetings or activities during mealtimes, unless students may eat during such activities;
 Provide students access to hand washing or hand sanitizing before they eat meals or snacks; and
 Take reasonable steps (through the nurses’ office) to accommodate the tooth-brushing regimens of students with special oral health needs (e.g., orthodontia or high tooth decay risk).

5. Qualifications of School Food Service Staff: Qualified nutrition professionals will administer the school meal programs. As part of the school district's responsibility to operate a food service program, we will provide
continuing professional development for nutrition professionals in schools. Staff development programs may include the cafeteria manager, and
cafeteria workers, according to their levels of responsibility.

6. Sharing of Foods and Beverages: Given concerns about allergies and other restrictions on some children's diets, the Eldred Central School District will discourage students from sharing their foods or beverages with one another during meal or snack times.

C. Monitor foods and beverages sold individually (sold outside of Reimbursable School Meals i.e., vending machines, fundraisers, etc.)

1. Elementary School. The school food service program will approve and provide all foods and beverage sold in the elementary school. Given young children's limited nutrition skills, food in elementary schools should
be sold as balanced meals.

2. Junior-Senior High School. In the junior-senior high school, all foods and beverages sold individually outside the reimbursable school meal programs during the school day will meet the following nutrition and portion size standards:

a. Beverages
 Allowed: water or seltzer water without added caloric sweeteners; fruit and vegetable juices and fruit-based drinks that contain at least 35% fruit juice and that do not contain additional caloric sweeteners, unflavored or flavored low-fat or fat-free fluid milk and nutritionally-equivalent non-dairy beverages.  Sports drinks like Gatorade are also acceptable.

 Not allowed: soft drinks containing caloric sweeteners

b. Foods: Any foods sold outside of reimbursable school meals must meet the portion sizes listed below.

c. Portion Sizes: Limit, whenever possible,  portion sizes of foods and beverages sold individually to those listed below:

 One and one-quarter ounces for chips, crackers, popcorn, cereal, trail mix, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, or jerky,

 One ounce for cookies;
 Two ounces for cereal bars, granola bars, pastries, and muffins.
See note below regarding bagel sales under "Fundraising Activities";

 Four fluid ounces for frozen desserts, including, but not limited to, low-fat or fat-free ice cream;

 Eight ounces for non-frozen yogurt;
 Sixteen fluid ounces for beverages, excluding water; and
 The portion size of a la carte entrees and side dishes, including potatoes, will not be greater than the size of comparable portions offered as part of school meals. Fruits and non-fried vegetables are exempt from portion-size limits.

d.Fundraising Activities: To support children's health and school nutrition-education efforts, school fundraising activities may involve foods that meet the above portion size standards for foods and beverages sold individually.  Smaller portions are recommended.  Guidelines for portion size will be provided by the school district

e. Snacks: Snacks served during the school day or in after-school programs 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 as the primary beverage. Schools will assess if and when to offer snacks based on timing of
school meals, children's nutritional needs, children's ages, and other considerations. The district will disseminate a list of healthful snack items to teachers, after-school program personnel, and parents.

f. Rewards:
 The Eldred Central School District staff is encouraged not to use food or beverage as an award for academic performance or good behavior but may use it as a part of the celebration process which includes events like award recognition ceremonies.
 Teachers are encouraged to use physical activity as a reward whenever possible.
 The Eldred Central School District staff will not withhold food or beverage as a punishment.

g. Celebrations:
To support parents and celebrations, the school cafeteria will provide a new service for parents.  For a charge, parents will be able to order certain kinds of baked goods from the cafeteria for classroom celebrations.  These celebrations must be coordinated with the cafeteria manager and the school principal (prices will vary depending on the type of food ordered and the quantity).  The district will disseminate a list of healthy party ideas to parents and teachers.

D. Increase Student Opportunities for Physical Activity and Physical Education

1. Physical Education
 All students will participate in organized physical education on a weekly basis provided by a certified physical education teacher.
 All students in grades K-12 will have opportunities, support and encouragement to be physically active on a regular basis.
 Physical Education will be 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
health.
 Physical Education is not only part of the health education program but is also integrated, whenever appropriate, into classroom instruction in all areas.
 Physical Education includes enjoyable, developmentally appropriate, culturally relevant, participatory activities.

2. Integrating Physical Activity into the Classroom Setting. 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 physical education class. Toward that end:
 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;
 Opportunities for physical activity, whenever appropriate, will be incorporated into other subject lessons;
 Classroom teachers will, whenever possible,  provide short physical activity breaks between lessons or classes, as appropriate;
 Supervised daily recess will be available for all elementary students on a daily basis; and teachers will, whenever possible, not use physical activity or withhold
opportunities for physical activity including physical education class as punishment.  However, make-up work (in grade level work rooms) and administrative detention will continue to be available at the elementary school during recess times because of the actual time constraints of the school day.

3. Use of School Facilities Outside of School Hours. School spaces and facilities should be available to students, staff, and community members before, during,
and after the school day. These spaces and facilities also should be available to community agencies and organizations offering physical activity and nutrition
programs. School policies concerning facilities use and safety will apply at all times.

E. Promote Good Nutrition and Physical Activity

1. Nutrition Education: The Eldred Central School District aims to teach, encourage, and support healthy eating by students. Our staff will provide nutrition education and engage in nutrition promotion that:
 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;
 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, such as 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 energy expenditure (physical activity/exercise);
 Links with school meal programs, other school foods, and nutrition-related community services;
 Teaches media literacy with an emphasis on food marketing; and
 Includes training for teachers and other staff.

2. Communicate with Parents. The Eldred Central School District will support parents' efforts to provide a healthy diet and daily physical activity for their children. The school will send home nutrition information, post nutrition tips on the school website, and provide nutrient analysis of school menus. Parents are encouraged to pack healthy lunches and snacks and to refrain from including beverages and foods that do not meet the above nutrition standards for individual foods and beverages. The Eldred Central School District will provide parents a list of foods that meet the district's snack standards and ideas for healthy celebrations/parties, rewards, and fundraising activities.

3. Limit Food Marketing. School based marketing will be consistent with nutrition education and health promotion. As such, schools will limit food and beverage marketing to the promotion of foods and beverages that meet the
nutrition standards for meals or for foods and beverages sold individually (above). School-based marketing of brands promoting predominantly low-nutrition foods
and beverages is prohibited. The promotion of healthy foods, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products is encouraged.

4. Promote Staff Wellness. The Eldred Central School District highly 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 Eldred Central School District will establish and maintain a staff health and wellness committee which will act as a subcommittee of the District-wide Wellness Committee. The committee should develop, promote, and oversee a multifaceted plan to promote staff health and wellness. The plan should be based on input solicited from school staff and should outline ways to encourage healthy eating, physical activity and other elements of a
healthy life style among school staff. The staff health and wellness committee should
distribute its plan to the District-wide Wellness Committee.

F. Regularly Review and Monitor Wellness Policy
1. Monitoring. The superintendent or designee will ensure compliance with established district-wide nutrition and physical activity wellness policies. In
each school, the principal or designee will ensure compliance with those policies in his/her school and will report on the school's compliance to the school district superintendent or designee.

School food service staff will ensure compliance with nutrition policies within school food service areas and will report on this matter to the superintendent (or if
done at the school level, to the school principal).

The superintendent or designee will develop a summary report every three years on district-wide compliance with the district's established nutrition and physical
activity wellness policies, based on input from both schools. That report will be provided to the school board and also distributed to the District-wide Wellness Committee and staff

2. Policy Review. The completion of the summary report will be repeated every three years to help review policy compliance, assess progress, and determine areas in need of improvement. The school district will revise the wellness policies, as needed, and develop work plans to facilitate their implementation.

Adopted: 6/8/2006

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