INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 761
OWATONNA, MINNESOTA
Adopted: July 24, 2006
Revised: September 23, 2024
533 WELLNESS
All school districts that participate in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs are required by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (Act) to have a wellness policy that includes standards and nutrition guidelines for foods and beverages made available to students on campus during the school day, as well as specific goals for nutrition promotion and education, physical activity, and other school-based activities that promote student wellness. The Act requires the involvement of parents, students, representatives of the school food authority, teachers of physical education, school health professionals, the school board, school administrators, and the public in the development, implementation, and periodic review and update of the wellness policy. The Act also requires a plan for measuring implementation of the policy and reporting wellness policy content and implementation issues to the public, as well as the designation of at least one person charged with responsibility for the implementation and oversight of the wellness policy to ensure the school district is in compliance with the policy.
I. PURPOSE
The purpose of this policy is to set forth methods that promote student wellness, prevent and reduce childhood obesity, and assure that school meals and other food and beverages sold and otherwise made available on the school campus during the school day are consistent with applicable minimum local, state, and federal standards.
II. GENERAL STATEMENT OF POLICY
A. The school board recognizes that nutrition promotion and education, physical activity, and other school-based activities that promote student wellness are essential components of the educational process and that good health fosters student attendance and learning.
B. The school environment should promote students’ health, well-being, and ability to learn by encouraging healthy eating, physical activity, stress management, and other healthy lifestyle habits.
C. The school district encourages the involvement of parents, students, representatives of the school food authority, teachers, school health professionals, the school board, school administrators, and the general public in the development, implementation, and periodic review and update of the school district’s wellness policy.
D. Children need access to healthy foods and opportunities to be physically active in order to grow, learn, and thrive.
E. All students in grades K-12 will have opportunities, support, and encouragement to be physically active on a regular basis.
F. Qualified school nutrition personnel will provide students with access to a variety of affordable, nutritious, and appealing foods that meet the health and nutrition needs of students; try to accommodate the religious, ethnic, and cultural diversity of the student body in meal planning; and will provide clean, safe, and pleasant settings and adequate time for students to eat.
III. WELLNESS GOALS
A. Promotion and Education
1. The school district will encourage and support healthy eating by students and engage in nutrition promotion that is:
a. offered as part of a comprehensive program designed to provide
students with the knowledge and skills necessary to promote and protect their health;
b. part of health education classes as well as classroom instruction in
subjects such as math, science, language arts, social sciences, and elective subjects, where appropriate; and
c. enjoyable, developmentally appropriate, culturally relevant, and
includes participatory activities, such as contests, promotions, taste testing, and field trips.
2. The school district encourages balance, variety, and moderation and will foster an environment where all students can make age appropriate, healthy selections of foods and beverages, including those sold individually outside the reimbursable school meal programs, such as through a la carte/snacklines, vending machines, fundraising events, concession stands, and student stores.
B. Physical Activity
1. Students need opportunities for physical activity to fully embrace regular physical activity as a personal behavior. Toward that end, health and physical education will reinforce the knowledge and self-management skills needed to maintain a healthy lifestyle and reduce sedentary activities such as watching television, using hand-held devices, and video game controllers, etc.;
2. Opportunities for physical activity will be incorporated into other subject lessons, where appropriate; and
3. Classroom teachers will provide short physical activity breaks between lessons or classes, as appropriate.
C. Communications with Parents
1. The school district recognizes that parents and guardians have a primary role in promoting their children’s health and well-being.
2. The school district will support parents’ efforts to provide a healthy diet and daily physical activity for their children.
3. The school district encourages parents to pack healthy lunches and snacks and refrain from including beverages and foods without nutritional value.
4. The school district will provide information about physical education and other school-based physical activity opportunities and will support parents’ efforts to provide their children with opportunities to be physically active outside of school.
IV. STANDARDS AND NUTRITION GUIDELINES
A. School Meals
1. The school district will provide healthy and safe school meal programs that comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws, rules, and regulations.
2. School Nutrition personnel will provide students with access to a variety of affordable, nutritious, and appealing foods that meet the health and nutrition needs of students.
3. School Nutrition personnel will try to accommodate the religious, ethnic, and cultural diversity of the student body in meal planning.
4. School Nutrition personnel will provide clean, safe, and pleasant settings.
5. School Nutrition personnel will take every measure to ensure that student access to foods and beverages meets or exceeds all applicable federal, state, and local laws, rules, and regulations and that reimbursable school meals meet USDA nutrition standards.
6. School Nutrition personnel shall adhere to all applicable federal, state, and local food safety and security guidelines.
7. 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 school meals.
8. The school district will provide students access to hand washing or hand sanitizing before they eat meals or snacks.
9. The school district will make every effort to provide students with sufficient time to eat after sitting down for school meals and will schedule meal periods at appropriate times during the school day.
10. The school district will discourage tutoring, club, or organizational meetings or activities during mealtimes unless students may eat during such activities.
B. School Nutrition Program/Personnel
1. The school district shall designate an appropriate person to be responsible for the school district’s School Nutrition program, whose duties shall include the creation of nutrition guidelines and procedures for the selection of foods and beverages made available on campus to ensure food and beverage choices are consistent with current USDA guidelines.
2. As part of the school district’s responsibility to operate a School Nutrition program, the school district will provide continuing professional development for all School Nutrition personnel in schools.
C. Competitive Foods and Beverages
1. All foods and beverages sold on school grounds to students, outside of reimbursable meals, are considered “competitive foods.” Competitive foods include items sold a la carte in the cafeteria, from vending machines, school stores, and for in-school fundraisers.
2. All competitive foods will meet the USDA Smart Snacks in School (Smart Snacks) nutrition standards and any applicable state nutrition standards, at a minimum. Smart Snacks aim to improve student health and well-being, increase consumption of healthful foods during the school day, and create an environment that reinforces the development of healthy eating habits.
3. Before and Aftercare (child care) programs must also comply with the school district’s nutrition standards unless they are reimbursable under USDA school meals program, in which case they must comply with all applicable USDA standards.
D. Other Foods and Beverages Made Available to Students
1. Student wellness will be a consideration for all foods offered, but not sold, to students on the school campus, including those foods provided through:
a. Celebrations and parties. The school district will provide a list of healthy party ideas to parents and teachers, including non-food celebration ideas.
b. Classroom snacks brought by parents. The school district will provide to parents a list of suggested foods and beverages that meet Smart Snacks nutrition standards.
2. Rewards and incentives. Schools will not use foods or beverages as rewards for academic performance or good behavior (unless this practice is allowed by a student’s individual education plan or behavior intervention plan) and will not withhold food or beverages as punishment.
3. Fundraising. The school district will make available to parents and teachers a list of suggested healthy fundraising ideas.
E. Food and Beverage Marketing in Schools
1. School-based marketing will be consistent with nutrition education and health promotion.
2. Schools will restrict food and beverages marketing to the promotion of only those foods and beverages that meet the Smart Snacks nutrition standards.
V. WELLNESS LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
A. Wellness Coordinator
1. The superintendent will designate a school district official to oversee the school district’s wellness-related activities (Wellness Coordinator). The Wellness Coordinator will ensure that each school implements the policy.
2. The principal of each school, or a designated school official, will ensure compliance within the school and will report to the Wellness Coordinator regarding compliance matters upon request.
B. Public Involvement
1. The Wellness Coordinator will permit parents, students, representatives of the school food authority, teachers of physical education, school health professionals, the school board, school administrators, and the general public to participate in the development, implementation, and periodic review and update of this wellness policy.
2. The Wellness Coordinator will hold meetings, from time to time, for the purpose of discussing the development, implementation, and periodic review and update of the wellness policy. All meeting dates and times will be posted on the school district’s website and will be open to the public.
VI. POLICY IMPLEMENTATION AND MONITORING
A. Implementation and Publication
1. After approval by the school board, the wellness policy will be implemented throughout the school district.
2. The school district will post its wellness policy on its website, to the extent it maintains a website.
B. Annual Reporting
The Wellness Coordinator will annually inform the public about the content and implementation of this wellness policy and make the policy and any updates to the policy available to the public.
C. Triennial Assessment
1. At least once every three years, the school district will evaluate compliance with the wellness policy to assess the implementation of the policy and create a report that includes the following information:
a. the extent to which schools under the jurisdiction of the school district are in compliance with the wellness policy;
b. the extent to which the school district’s wellness policy compares to model local wellness policies; and
c. a description of the progress made in attaining the goals of the school district’s wellness policy.
2. The Wellness Coordinator will be responsible for conducting the triennial assessment.
3. The triennial assessment report shall be posted on the school district’s website or otherwise made available to the public.
D. Recordkeeping
The school district will retain records to document compliance with the requirements of the wellness policy. The records to be retained include, but are not limited to:
1. The school district’s written wellness policy.
2. Documentation demonstrating compliance with community involvement requirements, including requirements to make the local school wellness policy and triennial assessments available to the public.
3. Documentation of the triennial assessment of the local school wellness policy for each school under the school district’s jurisdiction efforts to review and update the wellness policy (including an indication of who is involved in the update and methods the school district uses to make stakeholders aware of their ability to participate on the Wellness Committee).
Legal References:
Minn. Stat. § 121A.215 (Local School District Wellness Policy)
42 U.S.C. § 1751 et seq. (Healthy and Hunger-Free Kids Act)
42 U.S.C. § 1758b (Local School Wellness Policy)
42 U.S.C. § 1771 et seq. (Child Nutrition Act of 1966)
7 U.S.C. § 5341 (Establishment of Dietary Guidelines)
7 C.F.R. § 210.10 (School Lunch Program Regulations)
7 C.F.R. § 220.8 (School Breakfast Program Regulations)
Local Resources:
Minnesota Department of Education, www.education.state.mn.us
Minnesota Department of Health, www.health.state.mn.us
County Health Departments
Action for Healthy Kids Minnesota, www.actionforhealthykids.org
United States Department of Agriculture, www.fns.usda.gov