The Wellness Policy Mandate. Will You Be Ready for July

1, 2006?

Pennsylvania Department of Education Division of Food and Nutrition

Pat Birkenshaw, State Director Child Nutrition Programs

Vonda Fekete, M.S., R.D.,L.D.N.

Local Wellness Policy

• Public Law 108-265, Section 204• Each LEA participating in National

School Lunch Program or School Breakfast Program

• Establish policy for schools under the LEA

• Intent of Congress = Local level• Awaiting guidance from USDA• 1st day of school after July 1, 2006

Local Wellness Policy Requirements

• Goals for:– Nutrition education– Physical activity– And other school based activities

• Designed to promote student wellness

Local Wellness Policy Requirements

• Nutrition guidelines for all foods available on each school campus during the school day

• Objectives of promoting student health and reducing childhood obesity

Nutrition Standards for Competitive Foods

• Voluntary• Phased in over 3 years• For competitive foods only• Provide assistance for meeting requirements• Consistent standard for “healthy”• Uniform request (nutrient content and package

size) for food manufacturers to better respondwww.pde.state.pa.us/food_nutrition

Local Wellness Policy Requirements

• Establish a plan for measuring implementation

• Designation of one or more persons (LEA or at each school) charged with operational responsibility for ensuring school meets wellness policy

Local Wellness Policy Requirements

• The development involves:– Parents– Students– School Food Authority– School Board– School Administrators– Public

                                                                                                                          

Coordinated School Health

What is Coordinated School Health?

• Integrates efforts of eight components• Can strongly influence student health• Focus is improving quality of each

component and collaboration among people working on them

• Emphasizes needs assessment, planning based on data, sound science, analysis of gaps and redundancies in school health programming, and evaluation

What is Coordinated School Health?

School Health Coordinator

School Health Councils

School Health Coordinator

Responsible for managing and coordinating all school health policies, programs, activities and resources

School Health Councils

• Representatives from different segments of school and community:Parents Teachers

Students School Administrators

Community Service Providers

• Provides guidance to school health coordinator

• Can institutionalize health promotion in school or district

Action Steps

• Form team

• Investigate councils that already exist at the district or building level that involve many of the same people

• Investigate policies that already exist at the district or building level

Resources

Project PA• “Preventing Childhood Overweight and

Obesity: Parents Can Make a Difference”• Environmental Strategies Mini Grants• Poster and Essay Contest• Increasing School Meals Participation-

Breakfast

http://nutrition.psu.edu/projectpa

Resources

• USDA Team Nutrition– Wellness Policy Section

– Making It Happen-coming soon!

– Changing the Scene

www.fns.usda.gov/tn.htm• HealthierUS School Challenge

www.fns.usda.gov/tn/HealthierUS/index.htm• National Association for Sports and Physical

Education (NASPE)

www.aapherd.org/naspe

Resources

• American Cancer Societywww.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/

PED_1_6School_health.asp• Action For Healthy Kidswww.ActionforHealthykids.org• Pennsylvania Advocates for Nutrition and Activity

(PANA) www.panaonline.org• Family and Community Careers Leaders of

America (FCCLA)www.fcclainc.org