The school district will provide nutrition education and engage in nutrition promotion that:

• is offered at each grade level as part of a sequential, comprehensive, standards-based program designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to promote and protect their health;
• is part of not only health education classes, but also classroom instruction in subjects not directly related to health and elective subjects whenever possible.;
• includes enjoyable, developmentally appropriate, culturally relevant participatory activities such as promotion and taste testing;
• 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 physical activity;

Physical Education

The school district will provide physical education that:

• is for all students in grades K-12 for the entire school year;
• 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,
• Students in grades K-5 will be provided at least 30 minutes of physical activity each day.
• Students in grades 6-12 will be provided at least 120 minutes of physical activity each week.

Physical Activity and Punishment

Employees are discouraged from using physical activity (e.g., running laps, pushups) or withhold opportunities for physical activity (e.g., physical education) as punishment. When activities, such as mandatory school-wide testing make it necessary for students to remain indoors for long periods of time, school should give students periodic breaks during which they are encouraged to stand and be moderately active.

Integrating Physical Activity into Classroom Settings

The Wapello Community School System recognizes that in order for students to receive the nationally recommended amount of physical activity and for students to fully embrace regular physical activity as a personal behavior, ALL students need opportunities for physical activity beyond the physical education class. Toward this end, Wapello Community School District will:

• offer classroom health education that complements physical education by reinforcing the knowledge and self-management skills needed to maintain a physically active lifestyle and to reduce time spent on sedentary activities;
• discourage sedentary activities, such as watching television, playing computer games, etc.;
• provide opportunities for physical activity to be incorporated into other subject lessons; and,
• encourage classroom teachers to provide short physical activity breaks between lessons or classes, as appropriate.

Communication with Parents

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

• encourage parents to pack healthy lunches and snacks, including beverages that meet the school's nutrition standards;
• support parents' efforts to provide their children with opportunities to be physically active outside of schoo

Food Marketing in Schools

Wapello school-based marketing will be consistent with a focus on health promotion and should:

• limit foods that do not meet school nutrition standards when sold individually;
• promote healthy foods, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products; and
• promote juices, water, and dairy products market activities that promote healthful behaviors including: pricing structures that promote healthy options in ala carte lines, including vending machines.
• Market activities that promote healthful behaviors

Staff Wellness

The school district values the health and well-being of every staff member. To this end:

• The district should designate the school nurse as the wellness coordinator and establish a staff wellness committee that will develop a plan that will demonstrate and challenge staff to healthy eating, physical activity, and healthy lifestyles.:
• The committee shall yearly have a multi-faceted plan to entice staff to support one another in becoming healthy individuals.

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 low-fat (1 %) and fat-free milk and nutritionally equivalent non-dairy alternatives
• Encourage the consumption of whole grain.
• Share information about nutritional contect of meals with parents and students

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;
• notify parents and students of the availability of the School Breakfast Program, through the use of the website, newsletter, etc...; and,
• encourage parents to provide a healthy breakfast for their children if the parents choose not to use the School Breakfast Program. This can be done through newsletter articles, take-home materials or other means.

Meal Times and Scheduling

The school district:

• will provide students with at least 10 minutes to eat after sitting down for breakfast and 20 minutes after sitting down for lunch. When occasions arise in which the students do not get this amount of time, procedures should be in place to allow longer eating times;
• should 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;
• will provide students access to hand washing or hand sanitizing before they eat meals or snacks; and,
• Have accessible drinking water available during school meals;
• should take reasonable steps to accommodate the tooth-brushing regimens of students with special oral health needs (e.g., orthodontia or high tooth decay risk).

Qualification of Food Service Staff

Qualified nutrition professionals will administer the meal programs. As part of the school district’s responsibility to operate a food service program, the school district will:

• provide continuing professional development for all nutrition professionals; and,
• provide staff development programs for cafeteria workers and nutrition managers according to their level of responsibility.
• In school year 2015-2016, the first year of implementation, program directors must complete 8 hours of training; program managers, 6 hours of training ; and program staff, 4 hours of training.

Sharing of Foods

The school district discourages students from sharing their foods or beverages with one another during meal or snack times, given concerns about allergies and other restrictions on some children’s diets.

Beverages

• Encouraged:Water, seltzer, water without added caloric sweeteners, fruit and vegetable juices, fruit-based drinks containing 100% fruit juice, unflavored or flavored low-fat or fat-free milk..
•  Discouraged: All soft drinks, sports drinks, beverages with caffeine excluding low-fat or fat-free chocolate milk

Foods

A food item sold individually should have:

• Less than 10% of calories from saturday fat and zero grams of trans fat
• No more than 35% of weight from added sugars
• No more than 200mg of sodium per serving for chips, cereals, crackers, and other snack items
• No more than 480mg of sodium per serving for pizza, sandwiches, and main dishes.
• The inclusion of at least one fruit or non-fried vegetable at any location on a school site where foods are sold.  Grain products must include 50% or more whole grain by weight or have whole grain as the 1st ingredient.

Portion Size

The Wapello School District will strive to limit serving sizes to these recommended standards:

• One and one-quarter ounces of chips, crackers, popcorn, cereal, trail mix, nuts, seeds, dried fruits, or jerky
• One ounce for cookies.
• Two ounces for cereal bars, granola bars, pastries, muffins, doughnuts, bagels, and other bakery items
• Eight ounces for non-frozen yogurt
• Twelve fluid ounces for beverages, excluding water and milk

Food Safety

All foods made available on campus adhere to food safety and security guidelines.

All foods made available on campus comply with the state and local food safety and sanitation regulations. Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) plans and guidelines are implemented to prevent food illness in schools.

Wellness Committee

The Wellness Committee shall be appointed each year. Membership will include: building principal, food service representative, PE instructor from each building, health instructor, school nurse, board member, persons that would give representation of parents.

In each school:

• the committee will monitor the district-wide nutrition and physical activity wellness policies. The following will have specific responsibilities: Food service staff at the school district level will ensure compliance with nutrition policies within food service areas and will report this matter to the district wellness committee; they shall yearly plan their emphasis in the nutrition program.
• The school nurse will monitor the staff wellness efforts and report yearly to the district wellness committee.

• the PE and Health instructors will indicate their emphasis for the year and report results to the Wellness committee;
• the building principals shall report on selections in the vending machines as in reference to the nutrition policies,
• the Wapello Wellness Committee will meet on a semi-annual basis to assess the school district's nutrition and physical activity environments and practices.

Policy Review

To help with the initial development of the school district’s wellness policies, each school in the school district will conduct a baseline assessment of the school’s existing nutrition and physical activity environments and practices. The results of those school-by-school assessments will be compiled at the school district level to identify and prioritize needs.

Assessments will be repeated every three (3) years to help 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.