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;
• includes enjoyable, developmentally appropriate, culturally relevant participatory activities, such as contests, promotions, taste-testing, farm visits and school gardens;
• promotes fruits, vegetables, whole-grain products, low-fat and fat-free dairy products, healthy food preparation methods and health-enhancing nutrition practices; and
• emphasizes caloric balance between food intake and physical activity.

 

Daily 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,
• engages students in moderate to vigorous activity during at least 50 percent of physical education class time.

 

Daily Recess

Elementary schools should provide recess for students that:

• is at least 30 minutes a day;
• is preferably outdoors; and,
• encourages moderate to vigorous physical activity verbally and through the provision of space and equipment.
• discourages extended periods (i.e., periods of two or more hours) of inactivity.

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

 

Physical Activity and Punishment

Employees should not use physical activity (e.g., running laps, pushups) or withhold opportunities for physical activity (e.g., recess, physical education) as punishment.

 

Physical Activity Opportunities after School

After-school child care and enrichment programs will provide and encourage—verbally, and through the provision of space, equipment and activities—daily periods of moderate to vigorous physical activity for all participants. 

 

Note – Iowa law now requires elementary students, K-5, to have 30 minutes of physical activity, not physical education, per day.  This requirement can be met through a combination of PE, recess, classroom and other activities.  Middle and high school students must have at least 120 minutes of physical activity per week.  Again this is not just physical education but can be met with a combination of PE, school and non-school sponsored athletics and other activities where the body is exerted.  Should a student wish to meet the requirement outside of school, the student and school district must have an agreement detailing the outside activity.    

  

In 2008, the Iowa Legislature enacted “the Healthy Kids Act,” requiring that all students in grades 6 – 12 engage in physical activity for a minimum of 120 minutes per week in which there are at least five days of school. The law also requires that we monitor how students fulfill this requirement.

Please fill out the items below, sign (both student and parent/guardian), and return to the school by ____________.

If you have any questions, call: 1-515-373-6619.                                                                              (date)

 

 

Name of Student: ___________________________________________   Grade (___________):_____________
                                                                                                                          School year

School activities that student will be involved in during the __________ school year (include estimate of minutes per week):

 

          FALL                                                       WINTER                                                                  SPRING

Cross country		Basketball		Track
Football		Wrestling		Golf
Volleyball		Bowling		Tennis
Swimming		Swimming (boys)		Soccer
Marching band		Show choir		Baseball
Cheerleading		Cheerleading		Softball
Drill team		Drill team		Pom squad
Trapshooting
Other* (what, when, how many minutes per week):

 

*   Non-school activities (may include non-school sport teams, gymnastics, dance, individualized exercise program, etc.) that student will be involved in during the ____________ school year.                          

 

Signature of Student: ___________________________________________  Date Signed: _______________________________

Signature of Parent/Guardian: _______________________________________________________________________________

Signature of Building Principal: ______________________________________________________________________________

 

Integrating Physical Activity into Classroom Settings

For students to receive the nationally recommended amount of daily physical activity and for students to fully embrace regular physical activity as a personal behavior, students need opportunities for physical activity beyond the physical education class.  Toward that end, the 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. ; and,
• provide opportunities for physical activity to be incorporated into other subject lessons.

 

Communication with Parents

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

• provide opportunities for students to share their healthy food practices with others in the school community;
• support parents’ efforts to provide their children with opportunities to be physically active outside of school; and,
• include sharing information about physical activity and physical education through a web site, newsletter, other take-home materials, special events or physical education homework.

 

Staff Wellness

The 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 school should:

• develop, promote and oversee a multifaceted plan to promote staff health and wellness developed by the staff wellness committee.

 

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.

The school will:

• set guidelines for eating fruits and vegetables;
• set guidelines for  receiving extra portions; and
• share information about the nutritional content of meals with parents and students.  (The information could be made available on menus, a web site, on cafeteria menu boards, placards or other point-of-purchase materials.)

 

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, including serving breakfast in the classroom, “grab-and-go” breakfasts or breakfast during morning break or recess, to the extent possible;
• 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

The 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; and
• promote the availability of meals to all students.

 

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 that include appropriate certification and/or training programs for child nutrition directors, nutrition managers and cafeteria workers, according to their levels of responsibility.

 

Celebrations

The school will evaluate their celebrations practices that involve food during the school day.  The school district will disseminate a list of healthy party ideas to parents and teachers.

 

Monitoring

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

In each school:

• the principal will ensure compliance with those policies in the school 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.

In the school district:

• the school district will report on the most recent USDA School Meals Initiative (SMI) review findings and any resulting changes.  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 superintendent will develop a summary report every three years 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 school board and also distributed to all school wellness committees, parent/teacher organizations, principals and health services personnel in the school district.

 

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 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.