The Columbus Community School District promotes healthy schools by supporting wellness, fitness, good nutrition, and regular physical activity as a part of the learning environment. The district supports a healthy environment where students learn and participate in positive dietary and lifestyle practices. By facilitating learning through the support and promotion of good nutrition and physical activity, schools contribute to the basic health status of students. Improved health optimizes student performance potential.
The district provides a comprehensive learning environment for developing and practicing lifelong wellness behaviors. The entire school environment, not just the classroom, shall be aligned with healthy District goals to positively influence students’ understanding, beliefs, and habits as they relate to food nutrition and regular physical activity.
Wellness Goals
The district has the following goals that will encourage wellness in students and staff:
- Encouraging physical activity, as outlined in the Student Wellness Plan – Physical Activity policy.
- Providing nutrition education and promotion, as outlined in the Student Wellness Plan – Nutritional Guidelines policy.
- Establishing other school-based activities that are designed to promote student and staff wellness, as outlined in the Student Wellness Plan – Other Activities to Promote Wellness policy.
Plan for Measuring Implementation of the Wellness Plan and Nutrition Guidelines
A. Wellness Policy Committee.
1. The district will establish a local wellness policy committee that may be comprised of any of the following: representatives of The board; representatives of the district, including administrators; representatives of the public; parents; students; representatives of the school food authority; and nutrition/wellness experts, including teachers of physical education and/or school health professionals.
2. The local wellness policy committee will develop a plan to implement, monitor, review, evaluate, measure, and update the local wellness policy. This committee will report annually to The board and to the community regarding these efforts.
3. The district will designate one or more officials from the wellness policy committee to ensure that each school within the district and the district as a whole complies with the local wellness policy.
B. Implementation
1. The district, through the committee and/or a designated official, will inform and update the public, including parents, students, and the general community, about the content and implementation of the district’s wellness policy.
C. Monitoring.
1. The superintendent, the principal at each school, and the committee and/or designee will ensure compliance with established District-wide nutritional and physical activity wellness policies.
- Additionally, the following actions will occur:
- food service staff, at the school or District level, will ensure compliance with nutritional policies within food service areas and will report on this matter to the superintendent or principal;
- the district will report on the most recent USDA School Meals Initiative (SMI) review findings and any resulting changes;
- the Food Service Director and/or the superintendent will develop a summary report on District-wide compliance with the district’s wellness policy, based on input from schools within the district; and
- the report will be provided to The board and also distributed to the district.
D. Policy Review
1. To help with the initial development of the district’s wellness policy, each school in the district has conducted a baseline assessment of the school’s existing nutritional and physical activity environments and practices. The results of those school-by-school assessments will be compiled at the district level to identify and prioritize needs.
2. Periodic assessments will be conducted to review implementation and compliance, to assess progress, and to determine areas in need of improvement. As part of that review, the committee and/or the designated official will do the following:
a. generally consider whether there exists an environment that supports healthy eating and physical activity;
b. review the nutritional and physical activity policies and practices to determine the extent to which the district and schools within the district are in compliance with the local wellness policy;
c. consider the extent to which the district’s local wellness policy compares to the model local wellness policy;
d. assess the progress the district has made in attaining the goals of its local wellness policy;
e. provide to The board any recommended updates to the district’s wellness policy.
The committee and/or the designated official will make the assessment available to the general public. The board will revise the wellness policies and develop plans to facilitate their implementation.
Approved 1994-95
Reviewed: FY 2015-2016, March 14, 2016, May 24,2021
Revised: 02/24/17
llness Policy