A New Wellness Policy

Returning to school usually means new teachers, new classrooms, and new friends. This year something else in new.

Schools in Castro Valley and throughout the United States are focusing on child wellness. New policies will be implemented to improve child nutrition, fitness, and overall wellness. CVUSD has assembled a committee of parents, administrators, and professionals to prepare our policy and to develop an implementation plan. The committee is preparing now preparing the rules for implementing the policy.

There is plenty of good reason to look at nutrition and fitness. Childhood obesity is an epidemic in the US. Because so many children now have what used to be called “adult-onset” diabetes, it’s now referred to as “type 2” diabetes. And the long-term effects of extra weight can influence heart disease and other health issues. To combat this epidemic, it is important to work on both sides of the wellness equation: healthy eating and exercise.

“One of the very best things that we parents can do for our children is to help them to learn good eating and exercise patterns,” said noted cardiologist Thomas R. Bersot, MD, PhD, director of the Gladstone Lipid Clinic and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. “Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States, and the really tragic thing that I see happening today is that our young children are well on their way to problems because of poor eating habits.”

Recognizing this problem, Congress passed the “Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004” (now Section 204 of Public Law 108-265) requiring all school districts that participate in any federally funded child nutrition program to establish a locally developed school wellness policy by the beginning of the 2006-07 school year. In effect, the law covers the vast majority of public schools since most participate in federal programs that subsidize school meals for at least some children.

The federal law directs local school districts to include several minimum specific elements in their school wellness policy. 

1. Parents, students, representatives of school food service, the school board, school administrators, and the community must participate in the development of the school wellness policy.

2. The policy must include goals for nutrition education, physical activity, and other school-based activities designed to promote student wellness.

3. It must include nutrition guidelines for all food available on each school campus during the school day.

4. It must assure that the guidelines for reimbursable meals will not be less restrictive than federal regulations and guidance issued by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

5. Finally, it must include a plan for measuring the implementation of the local wellness policy and must designate persons to oversee its implementation.