Sheridan Community School Corporation
Bylaws & Policies
 

8510 - WELLNESS

As required by law, the Board of Education establishes the following wellness policy for Sheridan Community Schools.

The Superintendent shall appoint a committee made up of:

 A.SHS/SMS Nurse *chair
 B.AES/SES Nurse
 C.Administrative Assistant/Assistant Superintendent
 D.Food Service Director
 E.Sports Medicine Provider
 F.Community Business Partner
 G.AES/SES Parent
 H.SMS/SHS Parent
 I.AES/SES Teacher
 J.SMS/SHS Teacher
 K.AES/SES Student
 L.SMS/SHS Student

The committee will meet at least once every semester to review and if necessary suggest revisions of the policy. Final authority to approve revisions of this policy is the responsibility of the Board. This committee will be responsible for coordinating efforts in disseminate and implement this policy. At each meeting this committee may select points of emphasis for the committee to focus.

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 set the following goals in an effort to enable students to establish good health and nutrition habits:

 A.With regard to nutrition education, the Corporation shall:
  1.Have nutrition education included in the Health curriculum so that instruction is sequential and standards-based and provides students with the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to lead healthy lives.
  2.Have nutrition education included in the sequential, comprehensive Health curriculum in accordance with the curriculum standards and benchmarks established by the State.
  3.Have nutrition education integrated into other subject areas of the curriculum, when appropriate, to complement, but not replace, the standards and benchmarks for health education.
  4.Have nutrition education standards and benchmarks be age-appropriate and culturally relevant.
  5.Have standards and benchmarks for nutrition education be behavior focused.
  6.Have nutrition education include enjoyable, developmentally appropriate and culturally relevant participatory activities, such as contests, promotions, taste testing, and others.
  7.Have nutrition education include opportunities for appropriate student projects related to nutrition, involving, when possible, community agencies and organizations.
  8.Have nutrition education extend beyond the classroom by engaging and involving the school’s food service staff.
  9.Have nutrition education posters, such as the Food Pyramid Guide, will be displayed in the cafeteria.
  10.Have the school cafeteria serve as a learning lab by allowing students to apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills taught in the classroom when making choices at mealtime.
  11.Have nutrition education extend beyond the school by engaging and involving families and the community.
  12.Have nutrition education reinforce lifelong, balance by emphasizing the link between caloric intake (eating) and exercise in ways that are age-appropriate.
  13.Have nutrition education benchmarks and standards include a focus on media literacy as it relates to food marketing strategies.
  14.Have nutrition education standards and benchmarks promote the benefits of a balanced diet that includes fruits, vegetables, whole grain products, and low-fat and fat-free dairy products.
  15.Ensure that staff responsible for providing instruction in nutrition education regularly participates in professional development activities designed to better enable them to teach the benchmarks and standards.
  16.Have instruction related to the standards and benchmarks for nutrition education be provided by highly qualified teachers.
  17.Provide information to parents that is designed to encourage them to reinforce at home the standards and benchmarks being taught in the classroom.
 B.With regard to physical activity, the Corporation shall:
  1.Provide a sequential, comprehensive physical education for students in K-12 in accordance with the standards and benchmarks established by the state.
  2.Provide all students in grades K-9, including those with disabilities, special health care needs and in alternative educational settings (to the extent consistent with the student’s IEPs), instruction in physical education as mandated by state requirements.
  3.Provide sequential instruction in the physical education curriculum related to the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to participate in lifelong, health-enhancing physical activity.
  4.Provide physical education students with opportunities to learn, practice, and be assessed on developmentally appropriate motor skills and social skills, as well as knowledge.
  5.Provide the sequential, comprehensive physical education curriculum that will stress the importance of remaining physically active for life.
  6.Provide the sequential, comprehensive physical education curriculum that will provide students with opportunities to learn, practice, and be assessed on developmentally appropriate knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to engage in lifelong, health-enhancing physical activity.
  7.Plan instruction in physical education sufficient for students to achieve a proficient level with regard to the standards and benchmarks established by the State.
  8.Include in the K-12 program instruction in physical education as well as opportunities to participate in competitive and non-competitive team sports to encourage lifelong physical activity.
  9.Include planned instruction in physical education requiring students to be engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activity for at least fifty percent (50%) of scheduled class time.
  10.Provide properly certificated, highly qualified teachers for instruction in physical education.
  11.Provide physical education classes that will have a student/teacher ratio comparable to the student/teacher ratio in other curricular areas.
  12.Teach cooperation, fair play, and responsible participation in physical education instruction.
  13.Provide planned instruction in physical education to meet the needs of all students, including those who are not athletically gifted and be presented in an environment free of embarrassment, humiliation, shaming, taunting, or harassment of any kind.
  14.Provide planned instruction in physical education including cooperative as well as competitive games.
  15.Provide planned instruction in physical education taking into account gender and cultural differences.
  16.Provide planned instruction in physical education to encourage participation in physical activity outside the regular school day.
  17.Shall not employ physical activity as a form of discipline or punishment.
  18.Integrate physical activity and movement, when possible, across the curricula and throughout the school day.
  19.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.
  20.Provide all students in grades K-5 with a daily recess period.
  21.Provide information to families to encourage and assist them in their efforts to incorporate physical activity into their children’s daily lives.
  22.Encourage families and community organizations to institute programs that support physical activity of all sorts.
  23.Give all students in grades 6-12 the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities and intramural programs that emphasize physical activity.
  24.Give all students in grades 5-12 the opportunity to participate in interscholastic sports programs.
  25.Provide developmentally appropriate physical activity for the students who participate in all after-school programs.

 C.With regard to other school-based activities the Corporation:
  1.Will schedule mealtimes so there is minimum disruption by bus schedules, recess, and other special programs or events.
  2.Shall provide attractive, clean environments in which the students eat.
  3.Shall not schedule activities, such as tutoring or club meetings during mealtimes, unless students may eat during those meetings.
  4.May limit the number of celebrations involving serving food during the school day.
  5.Shall provide students, parents, and other community members access to, and be encouraged to use, the school’s outdoor physical activity facilities outside the normal school day.
  6.Will investigate an organized wellness program available to all staff.
  7.May demonstrate support for the health of all students by hosting health clinics and screenings encouraging parents to enroll their eligible children in Medicaid or in other children’s health insurance programs for which they may qualify.
  8.Shall have schools in our system utilize electronic identification and payment systems, therefore eliminating any stigma or identification of students eligible to receive free and/or reduced meals.
  9.Shall discourage students from sharing their foods or beverages with one another during meal times, given concerns about allergies and other restrictions on some students’ diets.
 D.Furthermore, with the objectives of enhancing student health and well being, and reducing childhood obesity, the following guidelines are established:
  1.The food service program will strive to be financially self-supporting; however, if it is necessary to subsidize the operation, it will not be through the sale of foods with minimal nutritious value.
  2.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.
  3.All foods available on campus from the corporation food service during the school day shall comply with the current USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans, including competitive foods that are available to students a la carte in the dining area, as classroom snacks, from vending machines, for classroom parties, or at holiday celebrations.
  4.All foods available to students in the dining area during the school food service hours shall comply with the current USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans, including competitive foods available to students a la carte or from vending machines.
  5.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.
  6.Nutrition information for competitive foods available during the school day shall be readily available near the point of purchase.
  7.Continuing professional development shall be provided for all staff of the food service program.

Adopted 8/06
Revised 11/10/08