District Wellness Policy

The Belgrade School District is committed to providing a school environment that promotes and protects student health, well-being, and ability to learn by supporting healthy eating and physical activity.

The District believes that for students to have the opportunity to achieve personal, academic, developmental and social success, it needs to create a positive, safe and health-promoting learning environment. Therefore, it is the policy of the Belgrade School District to develop, adopt, and implement a comprehensive plan for a thorough, well-coordinated school wellness program.

This policy outlines the District's approach to ensuring environments and opportunities for all students to practice healthy eating and physical activity behaviors throughout the school day. This policy establishes goals and procedures to ensure that:

Students in the District have access to healthy foods throughout the school day - both through reimbursable school meals and other foods available throughout the school campus - in accordance with Federal and state nutrition standards;
Students receive nutrition education that helps them develop lifelong healthy eating behaviors;
Schools engage in nutrition and physical activity promotion and other activities that promote student wellness;
School staff are encouraged to practice healthy nutrition and physical activity behaviors in and out of school; and
The District supports an ongoing wellness committee committed to promoting student & staff wellness.

This policy applies to all students, staff and schools in the District.

School Wellness PDF

2021-2022 Wellness Policy Review

More Information

District Wellness Committee

Committee Role and Membership

The District has developed a representative district wellness committee (DWC) that meets quarterly to establish goals and oversee school health and safety policies, including development, implementation, review and public update of this district-level wellness policy.

The DWC membership works to represent all school levels and may include, but not be limited to: parents and caregivers; students; representatives of the school food service program; physical education teachers; health education teachers; school health professionals; school administrators, school board members; health professionals (e.g. dietitians, doctors, nurses, dentists); and the general public.

Leadership

The Superintendent (or designee(s)) will convene the DWC and facilitate development of and updates to the wellness policy, and will ensure each school' s compliance with the policy

Policy Implementation, Monitoring, and Public Updates

Implementation Plan

The Superintendent, in collaboration with the DWC, will develop and maintain a plan for implementation to manage and coordinate the execution of this wellness policy.

Annual Notification of Policy

The District will inform families and the public each year of basic information about this policy, including its content, any updates to the policy and implementation status. The District will make this information available via the district website and/or district-wide communications, such as the quarterly Wellness Newsletter. Annually, the District will also publicize the name and contact information of the leaders coordinating the wellness committee, as well as information on how the public can get involved with the district wellness initiatives.

Maintaining School Wellness Policy

The Superintendent will maintain the schools' wellness policy through development and implementation of administrative rules consistent with this policy. Input from the teachers, parents/guardians, students, school food service program, the school board, school administrators, district wellness committee and the public shall be considered before implementing such rules. A sustained effort is necessary to implement and enforce this policy.

The superintendent, in collaboration with the DWC, will monitor schools' compliance with this wellness policy and shall measure how well this policy is being implemented, managed, and enforced. The Superintendent shall report to the Board, as requested, on the District' s programs and efforts to meet the purpose and intent of this policy.

Triennial Progress Assessments

At least once every three years, the District will evaluate compliance with the wellness policy to assess the implementation of the policy and include the progress made in attaining the goals of the District's wellness policy. The District will notify households/families of the availability of the triennial progress

report on the District website or through the quarterly Wellness Newsletter.

Community Involvement and Communications

The District is committed to being responsive to community input, which begins with awareness of the wellness policy. The District will communicate ways in which representatives of DWC and others can participate in the development, implementation and periodic review and update of the wellness policy.

Nutrition

School Meals

All schools within the District participate in USDA child nutrition programs, including the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP). The school meal programs aim to improve the dietary intake and health of students , help mitigate childhood obesity, model healthy eating to support the development of lifelong healthy eating patterns and support healthy choices. The District ensures that all reimbursable school meals meet program requirements and nutritional standards found in federal regulations.

All schools within the District are committed to offering school meals that:

Are accessible to all students;
Are appealing and attractive;
Are served in clean and pleasant settings;
Meet or exceed current nutrition requirements established by local, state, and Federal statutes and regulations.
Promote healthy food and beverage choices using Smarter Lunchroom techniques.

Competitive Foods and Beverages

To support healthy food choices and improve student health, all foods and beverages sold outside the reimbursable school meal program during the school day must meet or exceed the USDA Smart Snacks nutrition standards. Those standards limit the Calories to< 200, sodium to < 200 mg, fat to< 35% of calories, and sugar to< 35% of weight from total sugars in foods, for all foods sold in the school during the school day.

They also state that all snacks sold must be "whole grain rich" or have as the first ingredient a fruit, a vegetable, a dairy product or a protein food. These standards will apply in all locations and through all services where foods and beverages are sold, which may include, but are not limited to, a la carte options in cafeterias, vending machines, school stores and snack or food carts.

Fundraisers

Fundraisers are time-honored traditions that support local school activities, such as class trips, athletic programs, and the purchase of school supplies. Smart Snacks in School nutrition standards seek to balance school funding with student wellness.

To support children's health and school m: nutrition-education, all food or beverages sold during the school day must m(d' the Smart Snacks in School nutrition standards. This includes foods sold as part of a school event, music/speech event, bake sales, other fundraisers, school store, etc. (by both student and parent groups) that occur during the school day. The school day is defined as midnight to 30 minutes after the last bell of the day.

Smart Snacks in School nutrition standards only apply to foods and beverages sold to students on the school campus during the school day. The nutrition standards do not apply to foods and beverages sold at events held after school, off campus, or on weekends, such as school plays or sporting events.

Smart Snacks in School nutrition standards do not apply to fundraising activities that take place outside of school, such as cookie dough or frozen pizza sales. Distribution of order forms and foods not intended for consumption at school are not affected by these standards and may continue.

The Smart Snacks in School rule does not limit fundraisers that sell non-food items or foods or beverages that meet the new standard. Healthy options available to schools include selling fresh produce, books, school spirit merchandise or other non-food items during the school day.

Celebrations and Rewards

Parents and staff are encouraged to be consistent with the goals of this policy to create a healthy school environment, when providing food as a snack or at a celebration during the school day.

Nutrition Promotion

Nutrition promotion will be used to positively influence lifelong eating behaviors by displaying healthy nutrition messages and creating food environments that encourage healthy nutrition choices and participation in the school meal program. As a District, all staff and students should receive consistent nutrition messages in the classroom, gymnasium, and cafeterias to support a healthy environment throughout the schools.

The District is committed to marketing food and beverages consistent with nutrition and health promotion efforts of the wellness policy. It is the intent of the District to approve advertising and marketing for only those foods and beverages permitted to be sold on the school campus; while choosing the healthier options when available.

Physical Activity

Physical Education

The District will provide students with physical education, using an age-appropriate, sequential physical education curriculum consistent with national and state standards.

Family Engagement

Activities shall he designed to engage families as active participants in their children's education; that promote the ability of families to support children's school achievement; and that encourages the collaboration with community resources and services to respond more effectively to the health-related needs of the student.

Staff Wellness

Schools in the District will implement strategies to support staff in actively promoting and modeling healthy eating and physical activity behaviors.

Policy History:

Adopted on: June 12, 2017
Reviewed on: June 13, 2011
Revised on:

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