GOAL: The primary goals of Tina-Avalon's School District Wellness Program is to promote student health, facilitate student learning of lifelong healthy habits, and improve student achievement. The following procedure will guide the implementation of the district wellness program.

NUTRITION GUIDELINES
The district designates the following nutrition guidelines, based on the Missouri Eat Smart Nutrition Guidelines, for foods and beverages served in schools during the school day:

SCHOOL BREAKFAST- all school meals comply with USDA regulations and state policies.

SCHOOL LUNCHES- all school meals comply with USDA regulations and state policies.

A’LA CARTE FOOD AND BEVERAGE ITEMS- not offered during school day

FOOD AND BEVERAGE ITEMS SOLD IN VENDING MACHINES AND SCHOOL STORES: All vended foods and beverages are sold in compliance with USDA regulations prohibiting the sale of “Foods of Minimal Nutritional Value” where school meals are served or eaten during the meal period.

REWARDS, CELEBRATIONS, FUNDRAISERS, AND INTRAMURAL ACTIVITIES: All foods and beverages are offered in compliance with USDA regulations prohibiting the sale of “foods of minimal nutritional value” where school meals are served or eaten during the meal period. Parents/Guardians will be encouraged to send healthy foods, and reasonable limits or restrictions on foods brought into the classroom will be set. Rewards, celebrations, and parties will be scheduled after lunch periods when possible. School officials must approve rewards, celebrations and parties to be held during lunch period.

NUTRITION EDUCATION
The district’s nutrition education goal is to provide students with the necessary knowledge and skills to make healthy nutrition decisions. In order to achieve the nutrition education goal, the district will:

1. Provide students at all grade levels, to the extent possible, with adequate nutritional knowledge that may include, but not limited to:
   *The benefits of healthy eating
   *Safe food preparation, handling and storage
   *Principals of healthy weight management
   *Essential nutrients
   *Nutritional deficiencies
   *The use and misuse of dietary supplents
2. Provide students with nutrition-related skills that may include, but not limited to the following:
   *Planning healthy meals
   *Understanding and use of food labels
   *Appling the principles of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) and MyPyramid
   *Critically evaluating nutrition information and commercial food advertising
   *Assessing personal eating habits, nutrition goal setting and achievement

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
The district’s physical activity goal is to assist students in learning to value and enjoy physical activity as an ongoing part of a healthy lifestyle by ensuring that every student has the opportunity to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to perform a variety of physical activities, maintain physical fitness and regularly participate in physical activity. In order to achieve the physical activity goal, the district will:

1. Develop a program of appropriate physical education for every student. The program will:
   *Provide for at least 150 minutes of physical education for students in the elementary grades during the school week; at least 225 minutes during each week for students in middle school; and at least 2 units for students in high school.
   *Emphasize knowledge and skills for a lifetime of regular physical activity.
   *Devote at least 50% of physical education class time to actual physical activity in each week, with as much time as possible spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity.
   *Meet the needs of all students, especially those who are not athletically gifted or who have special needs.
2. Provide time in elementary schools for supervised recess. All students will have at least 60 minutes per day of supervised recess. When possible, recess will be scheduled before lunch and held outdoors.
   
3. Provide opportunities and encouragement for students to voluntarily participate in before- and after-school physical activity programs; and joint school and community recreational activities by:
   *Providing a diverse selection of competitive and non-competitive, as well as structured and unstructured, activities to the extent that staffing and district/community facilities permit.
   *Encouraging partnerships between school, recreation agencies and other community organizations to coordinate and enhance opportunities available to students for physical activity during their out-of-school time.
4. Discourage periods of inactivity that exceed two or more hours. When activities such as mandatory school wide testing make it necessary for students to remain in doors for long periods of time, staff should give students periodic breaks which they are encouraged to stand and be moderately active.

OTHER SCHOOL-BASED ACTIVITES
The district’s goal for other school-based activities is to ensure and integrated whole-school approach to the district’s wellness program. The district will achieve this goal by addressing the areas itemized below.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
*School instructional staff will collaborate with agencies and groups conducting nutrition education in the community to send consistent messages to students and their families. Guest speakers invited to address students will receive appropriate orientation to the relevant policies of the district.
*The wellness program shall make effective use of district and community resources and equitably serve the needs and interests of all students and staff, taking into consideration differences of gender, cultural norms, physical and cognitive abilities and fitness level.
FAMILY INVOLVEMENT
The District will strive to engage families as partners in their children’s education by supporting parental efforts to motivate and help their children with maintaining and improving their health, preventing disease and avoiding health-related risk behaviors. Strategies the district may implement to achieve family involvement may include, but are not limited to:
*Providing nutrition information to parents/guardians in the forms of newsletters, handouts, presentations or other appropriate means.
*Providing parents/guardians with ideas for healthy celebrations, parties, rewards and fundraising activities.
*Encouraging parents/guardians to pack healthy lunches and snacks and to refrain from including beverages and foods that do not meet the district’s nutrition standards for individual foods and beverages.
*Sharing information about physical activity and physical education via the district’s newsletter, other take–home materials, special events or physical education homework.
*Encouraging parents/guardians to volunteer time in the classroom, cafeteria or at special events that promote student health.

MEAL TIMES
Students are not permitted to leave school campus during the school day to purchase food or beverages. Meal times will comply with the following guidelines:

1. Meal times will provide students with at least 10 minutes to eat after sitting down for breakfast, and 20 minutes after sitting down for lunch.
2. Activities such as tutoring or meetings will not be held during meal times unless students may eat during such activities.
3. At the elementary level, lunch periods will follow recess period, when possible.
   
4. Drinking water will be available to students during meals.
   
5. Students will have access to hand-washing facilities before they eat meals or snacks.
   
6. The district will take reasonable steps to accommodate the tooth-brushing regimens of students.
   
7. Students will be allowed to converse during meals.
   
8. The cafeteria will be clean, orderly and inviting.
   
9. Adequate seating and supervision will be provided during meals times.

SUN SAFETY
“Sun safety” describes a range of behaviors that include wearing appropriate clothing, applying sunscreen and limiting sun exposure. The sun safety program will focus on outdoor behavior and will be developmentally appropriate, active, engaging and taught in lessons that emphasize the positive benefits of sun safety. Sun safety education will be designed to assist students with:
*Knowledge about the harmful effects of the sun and ways to protect skin.
*Sun-safe skills, including the correct use of protective clothing, hats, sunglasses, sunscreen and lip balm as well we seeking shade and limiting sun exposure when possible and practical during the hours of peak sun intensity.

TOBACCO
Tobacco use prevention education will focus on all grades with particular emphasis on middle school and reinforcement in all later grades. Instructional activities will be participatory and developmentally appropriate. Tobacco use prevention education programs will be implemented in accordance with Board policy, relevant administrative procedures and law.

OVERSIGHT AND EVALUATION
The wellness program coordinators are responsible for monitoring implementation of the district wellness program by:

1. Assuming responsibility for the assessment of existing policies and procedures.
   
2. Prioritizing wellness goals and writing work plans for each goal.
   
3. Measuring implementation of the district wellness policy and procedure.
   
4. Ensuring that the district meets the goal of the wellness policy and procedure.
   
5. Reporting to the Board on compliance and progress annually.

MONITORING
The food service director/authorized representative will monitor food service areas for compliance with the district’s nutrition guidelines and will report on this matter to the wellness program coordinators.
The program coordinators will develop an annual summary report based on the district’s compliance with the wellness policy. The report will be provided to the Board of Education and made available to the public by appropriate means.

COMPLIANCE INDICATORS
During initial development of the district’s wellness-related policies and procedures, the district will conduct a baseline assessment of the school’s existing nutrition and physical activity programs and practices. The wellness committee will compile these results. The committee will use the following indicators to measure the impact of the district wellness program.

1. Student Absenteeism
   
2. Weight status or body mass index (BMI) of students
   
3. Fruit and vegetable intake of students and staff.
   
4. Achievement levels of students.

POLICY REVIEW
The wellness program coordinators will provide policy revision recommendations to the Board of Education based on the analysis of the compliance indicators as part of the annual report. The Board will revise the wellness policy, as it deems necessary. Administrative procedures will be revised accordingly.

TINA-AVALON SCHOOL DISTRICT WELLNESS PROGRAM

The Board recognizes the relationship between student well-being and student achievement as well as the importance of a comprehensive district wellness program. Therefore, the district will provide developmentally appropriate nutrition and physical education as well as opportunities for physical activity. The wellness program will be implemented in a multidisciplinary fashion.

WELLNESS COMMITTEE
The district will establish a wellness committee that consists of at least one (1): parent, student, nurse, school food service representative, Board member, school administrator, member of the public, and other community members as appropriate. If available, a qualified, credentialed nutrition professional will be a member of the wellness committee. The Board designates the following individual as the wellness program coordinator: Margaret Railsback, Food Service Manager. Only employees of the district who are members of the wellness committee may serve as wellness program coordinators. Wellness Coordinators, in consultation with the wellness committee, will be In charge of implementation and evaluation of this policy. Meetings, records and votes of the wellness committee will adhere to the requirements of the Missouri Sunshine Law.

NUTRITION GUIDELINES
It is the policy of the Tina-Avalon School District that all foods and beverages made available
on campus during the school day are consistent with the Missouri Eat Smart nutrition guidelines. Guidelines for reimbursable school meals will not be less restrictive than regulations and guidance issued by the Secretary of Agriculture pursuant to law. The district will create procedures that address all foods available to students throughout the school day in the following areas:

• National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program meals
  
• A`la carte offerings in the food service program
  
• Vending machines and school stores
  
• Classroom parties, celebrations, and rewards
  
• Snacks served in after-school programs

NUTRITION AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION
The district will provide nutrition and physical education aligned with the Show-Me Standards and Missouri’s Frameworks for Curriculum Development in Health/Physical Education in all grades. The wellness program coordinators, in consultation with the wellness committee, will develop procedures that address nutrition and physical education.

OTHER SCHOOL-BASED ACTIVITIES
The wellness program coordinators, in consultation width the wellness committee, are charges with developing procedure addressing other school-based activities to promote wellness.

EVALUATION
The wellness committee will assess all education curricula and materials pertaining to wellness for accuracy, completeness, balance and consistency with the state and district’s educational goals and standards. Wellness program coordinators shall be responsible for devising a plan for implementation and evaluation of the district wellness policy and are charged with operational responsibility for ensuring that schools meet the goals of the district wellness policy. Wellness program coordinators will report to the Board annually.