Policy 5580 – School Wellness – Kenosha Unified School District (2024)

The district promotes healthy schools by supporting wellness, good nutrition, and regular physical activity as a part of the total learning environment. By facilitating learning through the support and promotion of good nutrition and physical activity, schools contribute to the basic health status of their students. Improvement in health optimizes student performance potential and ensures that no child is left behind.

It is the district’s intention to help students learn and participate in positive dietary and lifestyle practices and to provide a school environment that supports these efforts.

• All students will learn about and participate in activities that promote cardiovascular fitness. Physical activity will be included in a school’s daily education program from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Physical activity should include regular instructional physical education classes, co-curricular activities, and recess.
• The curriculum will empower students with the knowledge, attitudes, and skills for lifelong healthy eating habits.
• All students will be encouraged to have breakfast, either at home or at school, in order to meet their nutritional needs and enhance their ability to learn.
• The Office of Food Services will promote healthy meals and meal alternatives by ensuring that all meals offered through the National School Breakfast Program and the National School Lunch Program meet and follow all United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) requirements applicable to the schools, including established nutritional standards.
• School administrative personnel, with the assistance and support of Food Services personnel, will provide a positive environment in school cafeterias by giving an adequate amount of time for students to eat school meals.
• The schools will promote healthy food and beverage choices for students in all venues where food and beverages are served or sold in accordance with the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.

The efforts to promote wellness, good nutrition, and physical activity are the shared responsibilities of all district employees. In keeping with the spirit of this policy, the district shall maintain a Wellness Committee to annually evaluate, update, and communicate any changes.

LEGAL REF.:

• Wisconsin Statutes
  • Sections 118.00 (Instructional program goals)
  • 118.12 (Sales of goods at schools)
  • 118.33(1) (Graduation requirements [including health and physical education credits])
  • 120.13 (Board power to do all things reasonable for the cause of education)
  • 121.02(1) (School district standards [including health and physical education])
• Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 (School wellness policy and child nutrition program requirements)
• Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010

CROSS REFERENCE:

• Policy 1200, Public Information Program
• Policy 1211, Use of Students in Public Information Program
• Policy 1212, Provision of Printed Material in Non-English Version
• Policy 1500, Public Solicitations/Fundraising Involving the Schools
• Policy 1510, Advertising/Promotions in the Schools
• Policy 3422, Exclusivity Contracts with Vendors
• Policy 3520, School Nutrition Programs
• Policy 3522, Milk Program
• Policy 3523, Vending Machines for Food Items
• Policy 4370, Staff Development Opportunities
• Policy 6100, Mission, Principles, Goals, Results
• Policy 6300, Curriculum Development and Improvement
• Policy 6456, Graduation Requirements
• Policy 6700, Extracurricular Activities and Programs
• Policy 6740, Student Fundraising Activities
• Policy 6770, Interscholastic Athletics
• Board Adopted Academic Standards
• District’s Lifelong Learning Standards and Benchmarks

ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATIONS: None

AFFIRMED: April 24, 2006

REVISED: April 27, 2015

Rule 5580 – School Wellness

1. Promoting Healthy Habits and Activities – The Office of Food Services and the Office of Teaching and Learning will work together in creating and maintaining an environment that supports and teaches healthy nutritional habits for district students.
   1. In addition to carrying out responsibilities as outlined in board policy and elsewhere in these procedures, the Office of Food Services will share information about the nutritional content of meals with parents/guardians and students. Such information could be made available on menus, a website, on cafeteria menu boards, placards, or other point-of-purchase materials.
   2. Physical Education Curriculum – A quality physical education program is an essential component of the district’s wellness activities. Physical activity provides an opportunity for self-expression and social interaction and can be enjoyable, challenging, and fun. These benefits entice students to continue participation in physical activities throughout their lifetimes. Elementary children derive pleasure from movement sensation and experience different challenges as they sense a growing competence in their movement ability. At the middle level, participation in physical activity provides important opportunities for challenges, social interaction and group membership, as well as opportunities for continued personal growth in physical skills and their applied settings. Participation at the high school level continues to provide enjoyment and challenges as well as opportunities for self-expression and social interaction. As a result of these intrinsic benefits, students will have the knowledge base to actively pursue lifelong physical activities that meet their own needs.
   3. Health and Nutrition Education Curriculum goals for grades 1 through 12 include the following:
      1. Eating habits
      2. Nutrients
      3. Dietary guidelines
      4. My Plate
      5. Portion sizes
      6. Product labeling
      7. Body awareness
      8. Eating disorders
      9. Alternative dieting
      10. Diet supplements
      11. Food safety
      12. Food allergies
      13. Food sensitivities
   4. The Family and Consumer Sciences Curriculum will support the philosophy that lifelong quality of life is dependent on students having the knowledge of nutrition and food needs for all age groups. Since the family is responsible for meeting food needs, students must understand the effects of technology on food, current health problems related to diet, and the social and cultural influence on food and resources.
   5. Schools will use nonfood items as rewards for academic performance or good behavior for individuals or classrooms.
   6. Schools will not use food or any restrictions of foods as a consequence for negative student behavior or academic performance.
   7. Schools will promote positive nutrition and healthy behavior by:
      1. Displaying resource posters (e.g., Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, My Plate, Fuel Up for 60);
      2. Displaying student artwork promoting positive nutritional and healthy behavior in the classrooms, hallways, and/or school cafeterias; and
      3. Participating in taste testing of unfamiliar foods (e.g., Taste Test Tuesday, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Grant).
   8. Business and Information Technology (school stores) will support the district’s wellness policy by complying with the Nutrition Standards for All Foods Sold in Schools (also known as the Smart Snack Rules).
2. 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:
   1. Operate the National School Breakfast Program.
   2. Arrange bus schedules and utilize methods to serve school breakfasts that encourage participation, including serving breakfast in the classroom, “grab-and-go” breakfast, or breakfast during morning break or recess to the extent possible.
   3. Notify parents/guardians and students of the availability of the National School Breakfast Program.
   4. Schools will utilize newsletter articles, take-home materials, or other means to encourage parents/guardians to provide a healthy breakfast for their children at home or through the National School Breakfast Program.
3. Nutritional quality of foods and beverages sold and served through the School Meals Programs
   1. School Meals –Meals served through the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs will:
      1. Meet, at a minimum, nutrition requirements established by state and federal statutes and regulations. Foods from reimbursable meals will, over the course of five days, derive no more that 30 percent of their total calories from fat and less than 10 percent of their total calories from saturated fats. Foods from reimbursable meals will provide one-third of the recommended dietary allowances (RDA) for lunch and one-fourth of the RDA for breakfast.
      2. Offer a variety of fruits and vegetables daily with at least two fresh fruits and one fresh vegetable offered per week.
      3. Serve only low-fat (1 percent) and fat-free milk and nutritionally equivalent non-dairy alternatives (to be defined by the USDA).
      4. Ensure that 100 percent of the served grains are whole grain.
   2. Foods and beverages sold individually (i.e., foods sold outside of reimbursable school meals, such as through cafeteria a la carte [snack] lines) will comply with the Nutrition Standards for All Foods Sold in School, also known as the Smart Snack Rules.
4. Fundraising activities and concessions
   1. All fundraising activities require administrative approval. Fundraising during school hours will comply with the Nutrition Standards for All Foods Sold in Schools, also known as Smart Snack Rules (located on the Kenosha Unified School District website).
   2. Organizations operating concessions at school functions should include at least some healthy food choices in their offerings. It is recommended that groups market these healthy options at a lower profit margin to encourage selection by students.
   3. Booster clubs should be inserviced on the sale of nutrient dense foods (i.e., whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables).
   4. Items sold through vending machines will comply with the Nutrition Standards for All Foods Sold in Schools, also known as the Smart Snack Rules.
5. Wellness Committee
   1. The district’s Wellness Committee shall consist of the following members: coordinator of athletics, activities, health, physical education, and recreation (co-chair), director of food services (co-chair), staff members (e.g., school nurse and physical education and marketing education teachers), parent representatives, and student representatives.
   2. The Wellness Committee will monitor implementation of the district’s wellness policy, evaluate policy progress, serve as a resource to school sites and revisit the policy annually.
   3. The Wellness Committee will meet at least three times per year.