Area schools gearing up to pass wellness policies

Four school districts in FMW Counties have spent the past year working to revise their school wellness policies and implement practices to ensure students have access to nutritious foods and physical activity during the school day. This will provide them with a head start to implementing the new USDA changes for school foods coming in the next year.

Sharon Hoyt, School Nurse, is heading up the project for Blue Earth Area Schools. Their policy details standards for all foods served through school meals, snacks, vending and concessions. Alternatives for birthday celebrations such as choosing the game for recess and healthy snacks at milk breaks, was presented to the school board in May. The board is expected to decide on the policy at their June meeting. They have made a number of healthy changes, changing from white bread to whole grain, and from 2% milk to skim or 1%. They have also incorporated a grab-n-go breakfast option which allow students to choose healthy breakfast items and charge to their school food account.

Laura Kramer, School Nurse, is heading up the project for Martin County West Schools. Their policy is nearly completed and includes standards for all foods served through school meals, snacks, vending and concessions with specific language regarding allowable foods in the classroom. They have convened a student group to help educate students about the changes and to promote healthier eating in school. Additionally, the school will be purchasing salad bars to ensure all students have access to fresh fruit and vegetables every day.

Suzanne Martin, School Nurse, is heading up the project for United South Central Schools. They are still in the process of drafting their policy and implementation process. They have made a number of healthy changes to their lunch menu and continue to make great progress towards their goals. Their school will be purchasing a snack cart to provide healthy snacks to students.

All three schools are working with consultant Leslie Lytle, PhD, RD, to draft the wellness policies, create educational materials, provide training to food service staff and educate parents and teachers about the new changes.

Additionally, Jane Wolle, School Nurse with St. James Public Schools, has also been working with their wellness committee to revise the current wellness policy. Changes will include providing standards for foods served in schools, through vending, school snacks and celebrations. The new policy will be presented to the board in June.

School Nutrition Project Sets Sail!

09/15/10

Chera Sevcik, MS
SHIP Coordinator


When we think of back to school, we think of backpacks filled with new school supplies, new teachers and new homework. Often, we forget about school nutrition and what we, as parents, educators and school staff can do to improve the healthiness of foods our children (and ourselves) can consume to maintain healthy lifestyles, high energy and brain power!

This year, Faribault, Martin & Watonwan Counties SHIP (Statewide Health Improvement Program) is excited to partner with three school districts (Martin County West, Blue Earth Area Schools and United South Central School) to take a holistic look at the types of foods and nutrition available at school. Not only is the project looking making healthy changes to meals, but is also looking at foods and beverages available in school vending machines, in the concession stands, in a la carte, foods provided at snack time, foods used for fundraising and foods available for school and classroom celebrations. Evidenced-based programs such as Farm to School, breakfast promotion and school gardens will also be considered.

To help us with this project, we have contracted with Leslie Lytle, PhD, RD, a professor who works with the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities - Division of Public Health and Epidemiology. Dr. Lytle has worked with hundreds of school districts, including Albert Lea School during the Blue Zones Vitality Project. Dr. Lytle will be working with each participating school district to assess and implement changes within the school food environment. Dr. Lytle and her team will be looking at foods available within each school and will also be asking teachers, parents, principals, food service staff and other school stakeholders to participate in a survey to better understand the school's food environment. This assessment will provide each school with a baseline and allow school stakeholders to identify priority areas to begin making changes. Not only will this work aim to improve the school nutrition environment, but a number of policy changes will be made to ensure sustainability of school nutrition changes.

Dr. Lytle was in the area and presented information about childhood obesity and the urgency to improve all avenues of childhood nutrition to teachers, staff and other stakeholders during school staff workshops in early September. The assessment process was also described for school staff and surveys for teachers, parents and principals were distributed.

Once the assessment process has been completed, likely later this fall, Dr. Lytle will host a forum in each school district to share results with school and community stakeholders. At that time, an action plan will be developed for each participating school.