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Prince
William County Public Schools
Wellness Plan
Executive
Summary
Children need access to
healthful foods and opportunities to be physically active in order to
grow, learn, and thrive. Such good health fosters student attendance
and education.
Unfortunately, obesity rates
have doubled in children and tripled in adolescents over the last two
decades. The predominant causes of obesity are excessive caloric intake
and physical inactivity. Unhealthy habits established in childhood can
lead to increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes for
adults. For the first time, a generation of children has a life
expectancy less than that of their parents.
The National Alliance for
Nutrition and Activity (NANA) provides documentation of the national
impact of the increase in obesity and inactivity in its report, “Obesity
and Other Diet- and Inactivity-Related Diseases.” The entire report
with supporting statistics is available at
www.NANAcoalition.org.
Only 2% of children (aged two
to nineteen years) eat a healthy diet consistent with the five main
recommendations from the Food Guide Pyramid. The items most commonly
sold from school vending machines, school stores, and snack bars include
foods and beverages of minimal nutritional value. Nationally, 33% of
high school students do not participate in sufficient vigorous physical
activity and 72% of high school students do not attend daily physical
education classes.
The causes of the obesity
epidemic have been directly related to poor eating habits and lack of
physical activity. Food portion size and the overall amount of
consumption are important contributors to weight gain. Multiple factors
have increased the trend toward more indoor time and less outdoor play.
The result is a generation at risk.
Nutrition Standard
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Plan school meals to
meet standards defined by the Governor’s Scorecard.
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Operate the School
Breakfast Program to ensure that all children have access to
breakfast.
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Make the Summer Food
Service Program available to school sites with over 50% of
students on free or reduced lunch.
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Prohibit the
withholding of food as a punishment.
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Support celebrations
that involve food that makes a positive contribution to
children’s diets and health.
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No food or beverages
shall be sold to students during established meal periods other
than those sold by School Food and Nutrition Services.
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All foods and beverages
sold during the school day must meet established nutrition
standards.
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To the extent possible,
provide students who arrive at the appropriate time with at
least ten minutes to eat breakfast (after sitting down), and
twelve minutes for lunch (after sitting down) on an average day.
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To the extent possible,
schedule lunch between 10:00 AM and 1:30 PM.
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Study the impact of scheduling lunch
to follow recess in
elementary schools.
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Study the impact of
ensuring that foods/beverages sold outside of the reimbursable
school meals meet standards defined by the Governor’s Scorecard.
Nutrition Education Goals
Physical Activity Goals
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Provide physical
education instruction for students in kindergarten through grade
five to equal at least two forty five minute periods in every
five or six day rotation.
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Provide physical
education instruction for students in grades six and seven to
equal at least forty five minutes every other day each week for
the entire school year.
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Provide physical
education for students in grades eight through ten to equal two
hundred and twenty five minutes each week for the entire school
year.
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Offer a variety of
cooperative, individual/personal and competitive physical
activities in physical education classes that shall reflect the
needs and interests of all students.
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Prohibit using physical
activity as a punishment and strongly discourage withholding
opportunities for physical activity as a punishment.
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Increase the effort of
PWCS in working cooperatively with private and community
organizations to make quality spaces and facilities available to
students, staff, and community members.
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Study the impact of
providing at least twenty minutes each day of supervised recess
for all elementary school students.
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Study the impact of
offering extracurricular physical activity programs in all
elementary, middle and high schools that meet the needs,
interests and abilities of all students.
Community Involvement
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Develop strategies for
teachers, parents, school administrators, students, food service
professionals, and community members to serve as models for
healthy lifestyles.
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Review new construction
to provide indoor and outdoor facilities to support student and
community fitness.
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Continue the
development of a unified policy for making quality spaces and
facilities available to students, staff, and community members
to provide opportunities for physical activity.
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Assess and if possible
make improvements to make it safer and easier for students to
walk or bike to school
Monitoring and Policy Review
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Review policy
compliance, assess progress, and determine areas in need of
improvement every three years.
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Use Governor’s
Scorecard for Nutrition and Physical Activity as baseline
for measuring each school’s compliance with the Wellness
Policy.
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Involve the School
Health Advisory Board as an advisory body to review the
implementation of the Division Wellness Policy
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Develop a summary
report every three years on compliance with the Division’s
established nutrition, physical activity, tobacco, and drug
wellness policies. Following the policy review, revise, if
necessary, the wellness policies and develop action plans to
facilitate the
implementation of the wellness policies.
Wellness Policy
Principles
“A healthy school
is one that integrates community, family, and schools to
provide for students a positive continuum of intellectual,
physical, social and emotional development on which to base
lifelong decisions.” (Source: National State Boards of
Education, Healthy Schools Vision Statement.) Prince
William County Schools recognizes that the health and
wellness of our students has changed over the years,
coinciding with the national trends of obese and inactive
children. This policy shall provide the School Division with
guidance and direction for implementing a consistent
wellness program that includes nutrition education and
physical activity. The development and implementation of
this policy involves staff members, parents, and members of
the community as well as students.
Prince William
County Public Schools is committed to providing school
environments that promote and protect children’s health,
well-being, and ability to learn by supporting healthy
eating and physical activity. Therefore, the policy of the
Prince William County Public Schools includes the following
principles:
The School Division
shall engage students, parents, teachers, staff members,
food service professionals, health professionals, and other
interested community members in developing, implementing,
monitoring, and reviewing Division-wide nutrition and
physical activity policies.
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To the maximum
extent possible, all schools in our Division shall
participate in available federal school meal programs
(including the School Breakfast Program), National
School Lunch Program (including after-school snacks),
and Summer Food Service Program. Foods and beverages
sold or served through the school shall meet the
nutrition recommendations of the U.S. Dietary
Guidelines for Americans.
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Qualified child
nutrition professionals shall provide students with
access to a variety of affordable, nutritious, and
appealing foods that meet the health and nutrition needs
of students; shall make every effort to accommodate the
religious, ethnic, and cultural diversity of the student
body in meal planning; and shall provide clean, safe,
and pleasant settings with adequate time for students to
eat.
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All students in
kindergarten through grade twelve shall have
opportunities with support, and encouragement to be
physically active on a regular basis.
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Schools shall
provide nutrition education and physical education to
foster lifelong habits of healthy eating and physical
activity and shall establish linkages between health
education and school meal programs, as well as with
related community services.
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