Clayton Ridge Wellness Policy Code 507.9

Code No. 507.9

Clayton Ridge Wellness Policy

The board promotes healthy students by supporting wellness, good nutrition, and regular physical activity as a part of the total learning environment. The Clayton Ridge Community School District supports a healthy environment where students learn and participate in positive dietary and lifestyle practices. By facilitating learning through the support and promotion of good nutrition and physical activity, our schools contribute to the basic health status of students. Good health optimizes student performance potential. The district will consider modest financial investments to incentivize and support wellness for its students and staff and will actively engage in local and regional partnerships around school wellness.

The Clayton Ridge Community School District provides a comprehensive learning environment for developing and practicing lifelong wellness behaviors. The entire school environment, not just the classroom, shall be aligned with healthy school district goals to positively influence a student's understanding, beliefs, and habits as they relate to good nutrition and regular physical activity.

The Clayton Ridge Community School District supports and promotes proper dietary habits contributing to students' health status and academic performance. All foods available on school grounds and at school-sponsored activities during the instructional day should meet or exceed the school district nutrition standards outlined in this policy and be in compliance with the state and federal law. Foods should be served with consideration toward nutritional integrity, variety, appeal, taste, safety, and packaging to ensure high-quality meals. See the DE guidance on Healthy Kids Act.

The Clayton Ridge Community 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 meals. Toward this end, the school district may utilize electronic identification and payment systems; provide meals at no charge to all children, regardless of income; promote the availability of meals to all students; and/or use nontraditional methods for serving meals, such as “grab-and-go” or classroom breakfast.

The Clayton Ridge Community School District will develop a local wellness committee comprised of representatives of the board, parents, leaders in food/exercise authority and employees. The local wellness committee will develop a plan to implement and measure district-wide school wellness action plans. The wellness committee will also review the wellness policy annually and share suggestions and ideas with the superintendent and the board. The committee will report annually to the board regarding the effectiveness of the committee’s action plans. The wellness committee shall consider: (1) nutritional guidelines for all foods available will focus on promoting student health and reducing childhood obesity, (2) promote physical activity, and (3) other school-based activities that are designed to promote student wellness.

The superintendent will ensure compliance with this policy.

The board will monitor and evaluate the wellness policy and the effectiveness of this policy.

Addendum to Wellness Policy: Clayton Ridge CSD Goals and Guidelines

I. Nutrition Education and Procurement Goals

The Clayton Ridge School District will provide nutrition education and engage in nutrition promotion that:

Is part of not only health-related classes, but also classroom instruction in core curriculum to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to promote and protect their health;
Includes enjoyable, developmentally appropriate, culturally relevant participatory activities, such as contests, promotions, taste-testing, and farm visits;
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 meal programs, other school foods and nutrition-related community services.

The Clayton Ridge School District supports the procurement of locally grown food and recognizes fresh food as a means to improve student health. To this end:

The District may source local foods that meet the district’s expectations for quality, within 150 miles, to the greatest extent possible, including school grown products (from school gardens), and menus will be developed to compliment local growing seasons and availability of foods.
If the cost of local food remains at or below 10% of comparably sourced foods, the district may use geographic preference for the procurement of local foods.
The District will reach out to neighboring school districts to purchase locally grown food cooperatively, whenever possible, in order to increase the amount of products purchased from local farms and lower food costs.
The District will support any effort on behalf of volunteers to create and maintain school gardens that will serve as instructional tools for nutrition education, as well as encouraging curriculum integration into other content areas.

II. Physical Activity Goals

Daily Physical Education

The Clayton Ridge Community School District will provide physical education that:

Is for all students in grades K-12 for the entire school year and is taught by a certified physical education teacher;
Includes students with disabilities, students with special health-care needs may be provided in alternative educational settings; and Code No. 507.9
Engages students in moderate to vigorous activity during at least 50 percent of physical education class time.

Daily Recess

Elementary schools should strive to provide recess for students that:

Is preferably at least 20 minutes a day;
Is preferably outdoors;
Encourages moderate to vigorous physical activity verbally and through the provision of space and equipment; and,
Discourages extended periods of inactivity.

Physical Activity Breaks

Elementary, middle, and high schools should give students periodic breaks during which they are encouraged to stand and be moderately active. This includes when activities, such as mandatory school-wide testing, make it necessary for students to remain indoors or sedentary for long periods of time.

Physical Activity Opportunities after School

Elementary, middle, and high schools should support extracurricular physical activity programs such as physical activity clubs or intramural programs. All high schools, and middle schools, as appropriate, will offer interscholastic sports programs. Schools will offer a range of after school physical activity opportunities that

Meet the needs, interest and abilities of all students; and
Include boys, girls, students with disabilities, and students with special health-care needs.

Physical Activity and Punishment

Teachers and other school and community personnel are discouraged from using physical activity (e.g., running laps, pushups) or withholding opportunities for physical activity (e.g. recess, physical education) as punishment. Exceptions may include discipline for behaviors that occur during physical education class or recess.

Safe Routes to Schools

The school district will:

support assessment and, if necessary and to the extent possible, make needed improvements to make it safer and easier for students to walk and bike to school;
when appropriate, work together with local public works, public safety or police departments in those efforts;
explore the availability of federal “safe routes to school” funds, administered by the state department of transportation, to finance improvements.

Use of Facilities Outside of School Hours

School spaces and facilities should be available to students, staff and community members. These spaces and facilities also should be available to community agencies and organizations offering physical activity and nutrition programs. School policies concerning safety will apply at all times.

III. Goals for Other School-Based Activities that Promote Student Wellness

Integrating Physical Activity into Classroom Settings

Clayton Ridge schools are encouraged to provide opportunities for physical activity beyond physical education. Teachers are encouraged to:

Offer classroom health education that complements physical education;
Encourage short physical activity breaks between lessons or classes, as appropriate, and discourage sedentary activities; and
Provide opportunities for physical activity to be incorporated into other subject lessons.
Attend staff development and implement strategies that promote physical activity.

Communication with Parents

The Clayton Ridge Community School District will support parents’ efforts to provide a healthy diet and daily physical activity for their children. The Clayton Ridge School District will:

Encourage parents 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;
Provide parents a list of foods that meet the district’s snack standard and ideas for healthy celebrations/parties, rewards, and fundraising activities;
Provide information about physical education and other school-based physical activity opportunities before, during and after the school day;
Support parents’ efforts to provide their children with opportunities to be physically active outside of school; and
Share information about physical activity and physical education through a web site, newsletter, other take-home materials, special events or physical education homework.
Provide activities (i.e. extra recess) in place of treats or foods for incentives.

Food Marketing in Schools

School-based marketing will be consistent with nutrition education and health promotion. The Clayton Ridge Community School district will:

Promote healthy foods, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products; and
Market activities that promote healthful behaviors including: vending machine covers promoting water; pricing structures that promote healthy options in a la carte lines or vending machines; sales of fruit for fundraisers; and coupons for discount gym memberships.

Staff Wellness

The Clayton Ridge Community School District 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 plan will be based on employee input and outline ways to encourage healthy eating, physical activity and other elements of a healthy lifestyle among employees.

IV. Nutrition Guidelines for All Foods Available on Campus

The nutrition guidelines for all foods available will focus on promoting student health and reducing childhood obesity at Clayton Ridge Community Schools.

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 law:
Offer a variety of fruits and vegetables.
Serve only low-fat (1%) and fat-free milk and nutritionally equivalent non-dairy alternatives (as defined by the USDA), and,
Ensure that half of the served grains are whole grain.
Provide at least a 20-minute time frame for student lunch periods.

Schools should:

Engage students and parents, through taste-tests of new entrees and surveys, in selecting foods sold through the school meal programs in order to identify new, healthful and appealing food choices; and
Share information about the nutritional content of meals with parents and students as needed.

Breakfast

To ensure that all children have breakfast, either at home or at school, in order to meet their nutritional needs and enhance their ability to learn, schools will:

Operate the breakfast program, to the extent possible;
Arrange bus schedules and utilize methods to serve breakfasts that encourage participation;
Notify parents and students of the availability of the School Breakfast Program, where available; and,
Encourage parents to provide a healthy breakfast for their children through newsletter articles, take-home materials or other means.

Free and Reduced-Priced Meals

utilize electronic identification and payment systems;
provide meals (at no charge) to all children, regardless of income; and,
Promote the availability of meals to all students.

Meal Times and Scheduling

The Clayton Ridge Community School District will:

Strive to provide students with at least 10 minutes to eat after sitting down for breakfast and 20 minutes after sitting down for lunch;
Schedule meal periods at appropriate times, e.g., lunch should be scheduled between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.; should not schedule tutoring, club or organizational meetings or activities during mealtimes, unless students may eat during such activities giving them access to a 20 minute lunch period; Attempt to schedule elementary lunch periods to follow recess periods; and
Provide students access to hand washing or hand sanitizing before they eat meals or snacks.

Qualification of Food Service Staff

Qualified food service staff will administer the meal programs. As part of The Clayton Ridge Community School District’s responsibility to operate a food service program, The Clayton Ridge Community School District will provide continuing professional development for all food service staff.

Sharing of Foods

The Clayton Ridge Community School District discourages students from sharing their foods or beverages with one another during meal or snack times, given concerns about communicable diseases, allergies and other restrictions on some children’s diets.

Foods Sold Outside the Meal (e.g. vending, a la carte, sales)

All foods and beverages sold individually outside the reimbursable meal programs (including those sold through a la carte lines, vending machines, and student stores or fundraising activities) during the school day or through programs for students after the school day will meet nutrition standards as required by state or federal law. For current guidelines, see the Healthy Kids Act. To determine whether a food product meets the Healthy Kids Act Nutritional Content Standards for a la carte and vending items sold to students during the school day, consult the Nutrition Calculator at the Iowa Department of Education Website, available at: http://educateiowa.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1740.

Fundraising Activities

Student activity fundraisers are encouraged to target healthy foods. There are two types of fundraising - regulated and other. Regulated fundraisers are those that offer the sale of foods or beverages on school property and that are targeted primarily to PK - 12 students by or through other PK - 12 students, student groups, school organizations, or through on-campus stores. Regulated fundraising activities must comply with the state nutrition guidelines. All other fundraising activities are encouraged, but not required, to comply with the state nutrition guidelines if the activities involve foods and beverages. These include foods that are not ready for immediate consumption (i.e. cookie dough).

To determine whether a food product meets the Healthy Kids Act Nutritional Content Standards for regulated fundraising items sold to students during the school day, consult the Nutrition Calculator at the Iowa Department of Education Website, available at: http://educateiowa.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1740.

The Clayton Ridge Community School District encourages fundraising activities that promote physical activity. (E.g. 5 K walk/run, Dodge Ball tournament, Badminton Tournament etc.)

Snacks

Snacks served during the school day or in after-school care or enrichment 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 meals, children's nutritional needs, children's ages and other considerations. The Clayton Ridge Community School District will provide a list of healthful snack items to teachers, after-school program personnel and parents.

Rewards

The Clayton Ridge Community School District will not use foods or beverages, especially those that do not meet the nutritional standards for foods and beverages sold individually, as rewards for academic performance or good behavior, and will not withhold food or beverages (including food served through meals) as a punishment.

Celebrations

Classroom celebrations involving food and beverages should encourage healthy choices of food and beverages and discourage excessive consumption of junk food. The district will disseminate a list of healthy party ideas to parents and teachers. Classroom celebrations should include advisory periods when possible.

Food Safety

All foods sold or prepared on campus adhere to food safety and security guidelines.

V. Plan for Measuring Implementation

Monitoring

The superintendent will ensure compliance with established school district-wide nutrition and physical activity wellness policies.

In the school district:

The principals will ensure compliance with those policies in the schools and will report on the school’s compliance to the superintendent; and,
Food service staff, at the school or school district level, will ensure compliance with nutrition policies within food service areas and will report on this matter to the superintendent or principal.
USDA School Meals Initiative (SMI) review findings and any resulting changes will be reported to the Wellness Committee as well as the board. If the school district has not received a SMI review from the state agency within the past five years, the school district will request from the state agency that a SMI review be scheduled as soon as possible;
The Wellness Committee will meet quarterly through the school year and assess wellness throughout the school district, oversee events and curriculums related to wellness, and create school action plans and goals. It will also review the Wellness Policy annually.
Members of the committee will report to the school board regularly (at least once a year) about wellness activities and effectiveness of the action plans.
The superintendent will develop an annual summary report on school district-wide compliance with the school district’s established nutrition and physical activity wellness policies, based on input from schools within the school district; and,
The report will be provided to the Clayton Ridge Community School board and also distributed to all school wellness committees, principals, and health services personnel in the school district. The report will be available to all patrons of the district through its publication in on the school website.

Policy Review

The Wellness Committee will study the wellness policy annually to generate ideas and provide recommendations to the superintendent and the board. The superintendent and the board will review and assess the wellness policy per board policy. Assessments will review policy compliance, assess progress and determine areas in need of improvement. As part of that review, the school district will review the nutrition and physical activity policies and practices and the provision of an environment that supports healthy eating and physical activity. The school district, and individual schools within the school district will revise the wellness policies and develop work plans to facilitate their implementation.

Legal Reference: Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, 42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq. (2005)

Child Nutrition Act of 1966, 42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.,

Iowa Code 256.7(29), 256.11(6)

281 IAC 12.5(19), 12.5(20), 58.11

Cross Reference: 504.5 Student Fund Raising

504.6 Student Activity Program

710 School Food Services

Approved: July 11, 2013 Reviewed: May 8, 2014 Revised July 12, 2018

CLAYTON RIDGE CSD POLICY MANUAL

Clayton Ridge Community School District

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