As required by law, the Board of School Trustees establishes the following wellness policy for the Franklin Community School Corporation.
The Board recognizes that good nutrition and regular physical activity affect the health and well being of the Corporation’s students. Furthermore, research suggests that there is a positive correlation between a student’s health and well being and his/her ability to learn. Moreover, schools can play an important role in the developmental process by which students establish their health and nutrition habits by providing nutritious meals and snacks, supporting the development of good eating habits, and promoting increased physical activity both in and out of school.
The Board, however believes this effort to support the students’ development of healthy behaviors and habits with regard to eating and exercise cannot be accomplished by the schools alone. It will be necessary for not only the staff, but also parents and the public at large to be involved in a community-wide effort to promote, support, and model such healthy behaviors and habits.
The Board sets the following goals in an effort to enable students to establish good health and nutrition habits:
| | A. | With regard to organizational structure, the Corporation shall:
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| | | 1. | Create a Corporation Wellness Planning Team consisting of an administrator, and a representative from Food Service, Health Services, and Physical Education or Health. The Corporation Wellness Planning Team shall serve to organize and implement the Wellness Plan.
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| | | 2. | Create a Corporation Wellness Team consisting of the Planning Team members, as well as a single representative from each building in one of the following areas: Food Service, Health Services, Physical Education/Health, and a classroom teacher. The Corporation Wellness Team shall serve to advise the Planning Team and assess the Wellness Plan.
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| | | 3. | Create Building Wellness Teams from all seven (7) schools consisting of a representative from each of the following areas: Food Service, Health Services, Physical Education/Health, and a classroom teacher. The Building Wellness Teams shall serve to assess the effectiveness of the Wellness Plan in their respective building.
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| | B. | With regard to nutrition education, the Corporation shall:
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| | | | a. | Provide nutrition education that shall extend beyond the classroom by engaging and involving the school’s food service staff.
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| | | | b. | Provide nutrition education standards and benchmarks that promote the benefits of a balanced diet that includes, fruits, vegetables, whole grain products, and low-fat and fat-free dairy products.
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| | | | c. | To provide nutrition education beginning in school year 2007-2008 that shall be included in the Health curriculum so that instruction is sequential and standards-based provides students with knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to lead healthy lives.
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| | | | d. | Provide nutrition education that shall be integrated into other subject areas of the curriculum, when appropriate, to complement, but not replace, the standards and benchmarks for health education.
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| | | | e. | Provide information to parents that is designed to encourage them to reinforce at home the standards and benchmarks being taught in the classroom.
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| | | | a. | Provide a physical education curriculum that will include sequential instruction related to the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to participate in lifelong, health-enhancing physical activity. This shall include cooperative as well as competitive games, and shall meet the needs of all students, including those who are not athletically gifted.
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| | | | b. | Provide a sequential, comprehensive, physical education program that shall be provided for students in K-12 in accordance with the standards and benchmarks established by the State.
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| | | | c. | Provide planned instruction in physical education that shall promote participation in physical activity outside the regular school day.
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| | | | d. | Provide information to families to encourage and assist them in their efforts to incorporate physical activity into their children’s daily lives.
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| | | | e. | Provide physical activity and movement that shall be integrated, when possible, across the curricula and throughout the school day.
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| | | | f. | Encourage families to provide physical activity outside the regular school day, such as outdoor play at home, participation in sports sponsored by community agencies or organizations, and in lifelong physical activities like bowling, swimming, or tennis.
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| | D. | With regard to other school-based activities the Corporation shall:
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| | | 1. | Demonstrate support for the health of all students by hosting health clinics and screenings and encouraging parents to enroll their eligible children in Medicaid or in other children’s health insurance programs for which they may qualify.
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| | | 2. | Provide an organized wellness program available to all staff.
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Furthermore, with the objectives of enhancing student health and well being, and reducing childhood obesity, the following guidelines are established:
| | A. | In accordance with Policy 8500, entitled Food Service, the food service program shall comply with Federal and State regulations pertaining to the selection, preparation, consumption, and disposal of food and beverages as well as to the fiscal management of the program.
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| | B. | As set forth in Policy 8531, entitled Free and Reduced Price Meals, the guidelines for reimbursable school meals meet or exceed the regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
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| | C. | The food service program will provide all students affordable access to the varied and nutritious foods they need to be healthy and to learn well.
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| | D. | All foods available to students in the dining area during school food service hours shall comply with the current Franklin Community School Corporation nutrient standards, including competitive foods available to students a la carte.
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| | E. | Beginning with 2007-2008 school year, all foods available to students on campus during the school day and outside school food service hours shall comply with the current Franklin Community School Corporation nutrient standards, including foods available to students as classroom snacks, from vending machines, for fund raisers, for classroom parties, or at holiday celebrations.
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| | F. | With the assistance of the Corporation Wellness Team the school food service program may involve students, parents, staff, and school officials in the selection of competitive food items to be sold in the schools.
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| | G. | The school shall prepare distribute to staff, parents, and after-school program personnel a list of snack items that comply with the current Franklin Community School Corporation nutrient standards.
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| | H. | Each classroom party held during the school day may include no more than one (1) food or beverage that does not meet the current Franklin Community School Corporation nutrient standards.
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| | I. | The food service program shall be administered by a director who is properly qualified, certificated, licensed, or credentialed, according to current professional standards.
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| | J. | All food service personnel shall receive pre-service training in food service operations.
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| | K. | Continuing professional development shall be provided for all staff of the food service program.
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The Board designates the Superintendent or his/her designee as the individual(s) charged with operational responsibility for measuring and evaluating the Corporation’s implementation and progress under this policy. The Superintendent or his/her designee shall report on the Corporation’s compliance with this policy and the progress toward achieving the goals set forth herein when requested to do so by the Board.
Review of this policy shall occur every year, by a committee appointed by the Superintendent, consisting of a representative of the Board, the administration, the food service provider, the parents, the students, and the public. The committee shall provide the Board with any recommended changes to this policy.
Adopted 6/12/06