School Board Policy 533 -
Wellness

Adopted: august 14, 2006
REVISED: April 12, 2010
revised: February 11, 2013
revised: November 13, 2017 
Revised: December 13, 2021

I. Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to promote student wellness, prevent and reduce childhood obesity, and ensure that school meals and other food and beverages sold and otherwise made available on the school campus during the school day are consistent with applicable local, state, and federal standards.

II. General Statement of Policy

A. The school board recognizes that nutrition promotion and education, physical activity, and other school-based activities that promote student wellness are essential components of the educational process and that good health promotes student attendance and academic achievement.

B. The school district has a responsibility to foster a climate that encourages students to maintain healthy lifelong eating habits, physical activity, and social and emotional health.

C. The school district encourages the involvement of members of the public in the development, implementation, and periodic review and update of the school district’s Wellness policy.

D. Children need access to healthy foods, opportunities, support and encouragement to be physically active on a daily basis, in order to grow, learn, and thrive.

E. Qualified nutrition service personnel will provide students with access to a variety of affordable, nutritious, and appealing foods that meet the health and nutrition needs of students; make reasonable efforts to accommodate the religious, ethnic, and cultural diversity of the student body in meal planning; and provide clean, safe, and pleasant meal settings and adequate time for students to eat.

III. Definitions

A. “Campus” means areas or vehicles that are owned or leased by the school and used at any time for school-related activities, including but not limited to inside and outside of school buildings, school buses and other vehicles used to transport students, athletic fields, stadiums, and parking lots.

B. “Food and beverage marketing” means advertising and other promotions of and/or beverages in schools. Food and beverage marketing may include oral, written or graphic statements made for the purpose of promoting the sale of a food or beverage product made by a producer, manufacturer, seller or any other entity with a commercial interest in a product.

C. “School day” means the time between midnight to thirty minutes after the end of the instructional day, per USDA Guidelines.

D. “Triennial” means recurring every three years.

IV. Wellness Goals

A. Nutrition Promotion and Education

1. The school district will encourage and support healthy eating by students and engage in nutrition promotion that is:

a. offered as part of a comprehensive program designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to promote and protect their health;

b. part of health education classes as well as classroom instruction in subjects such as math, science, language arts, social studies, and elective subjects, where appropriate; and

c. enjoyable, developmentally appropriate, culturally relevant, and may include participatory activities such as contests, promotions, taste testing, and field trips.

2. Through district curriculum, the school district will provide nutrition education that follows national and state standards, and focuses on understanding the relationship between personal behavior and individual health, as well as on the impact of food choices.

3. The school district will encourage all students to make age appropriate, healthy selections of foods and beverages, including those sold individually outside the reimbursable school meal programs, such as in vending machines, for fundraising purposes, at concession stands, and in student stores.

B. Physical Activity and Education

1. Students need opportunities for daily physical activity, and to learn to embrace healthy lifestyles and physical activity as personal behaviors. Toward that end, health and physical education will reinforce the knowledge and self-management skills needed to maintain a healthy lifestyle and reduce sedentary activities.

2. Opportunities for physical activity may be incorporated into other subject lessons, where appropriate

3. Classroom teachers may provide short physical activity breaks between lessons or classes, as appropriate.

4. To the extent possible, classroom teachers are encouraged to use physical activity as a reward or incentive and not to withhold physical activity as punishment.

5. Through district curriculum, the district will provide opportunities to strengthen the skills and knowledge needed to maintain a healthy lifestyle through the district’s physical education and health curricula, aligned with national and state standards.

6. The district will make appropriate accommodations to allow for equitable participation for all students and will strive to adapt physical education classes and equipment to meet the needs of students.

C. Other School-Based Activities to Promote Student Wellness

1. The school district will integrate well ness activities across the entire school setting.

2. The school district will coordinate and integrate other initiatives related to physical activity, physical education, nutrition and other well ness components so all efforts are complementary, not duplicative, and work towards the same set of goals and objectives, promoting students well- being, optimal development and strong education outcomes.

3. The district will offer (or collaborate with the community to offer) competitive and noncompetitive physical activity outside of the classroom that will foster participation by students.

D. Communications with Parents

1, The school district recognizes that parents and guardians have the primary role in promoting their children’s health and well-being.

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

3. The school district encourages parents to pack healthy lunches and snacks and refrain from including beverages and foods without nutritional value.

4. The school district will provide information on district and/or community resources for those families facing food insecurity.

5. The school district will provide information to parents about physical education and other school-based opportunities and will support parents’ efforts to provide their children with opportunities to be physically active outside of school.

V. Standards and Nutrition Guidelines

A. School Meals

1. The school district will provide healthy and safe school meal programs that comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws, rules and regulations.

2. Nutrition service personnel will provide students with access to a variety of affordable, nutritious, and appealing foods that meet the health and nutrition needs of students.

3. Nutrition service personnel will try to accommodate the religious, ethnic and cultural diversity of the student body in meal planning.

4. Nutrition service personnel will provide clean, safe, and pleasant settings and adequate time for students to eat.

5. Nutrition service personnel will take every measure to ensure that student access to foods and beverages meets or exceeds all applicable federal, state, and local laws, rules, and regulations and that reimbursable school meals meet USDA nutrition standards.

6. Nutrition services personnel shall adhere to all federal, state, and local food safety and security guidelines.

7. 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 school meals.

8. The school district will provide students access to handwashing or hand sanitizing before they eat meals and snacks.

9, The school district will make every effort to provide students with sufficient time to eat after sitting down for school meals and will schedule meal periods at appropriate times during the school day: between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 P.M. (CFR 210.10 (I)(1).

a. Lunch will follow recess period when possible to better support learning and healthy eating.

10. The school district will encourage that meals be available to students when participating in tutoring, clubs, or organizational meetings or activities occurring during scheduled school day mealtimes.

B. School Nutrition Service Program/Personnel

1. The school district shall designate an appropriate person to be responsible for the school district’s nutrition service program, whose duties shall include the creation of nutrition guidelines and procedures for the selection of foods and beverages made available on campus to ensure food and beverage choices are consistent with current USDA Guidelines.

2. As part of the school district’s responsibility to operate a nutrition service program, the school district will provide continuing professional development for all nutrition service personnel in schools.

C. Competitive Foods and Beverages

1. All foods and beverages sold on school grounds during the school day to students, outside of reimbursable meals, are considered “competitive foods.” Competitive foods include items sold a la carte in the cafeteria from vending machines, school stores and for in-school fundraisers.

2. All competitive foods will meet or exceed the USDA Smart Snacks in School (Smart Snacks) nutrition standards and any applicable state nutrition standards. Smart Snacks aim to improve student health and well- being, increase consumption of healthful foods during the school day, and create an environment that reinforces the development of healthy eating habits.

3. Before and aftercare (child care) programs must also comply with the school district’s nutrition standards unless they are reimbursable under the USDA school meals program, in which case they must comply with all applicable USDA standards.

D. Other Foods and Beverages Made Available to Students

1. Student wellness will be a consideration for all foods offered, but not sold, to students on the school campus, including those foods provided through:

a. Celebrations and parties.

(1) The school district may provide a list of healthy party ideas to parents and teachers, including non-food celebration ideas.

b. Classroom snacks brought by parents.

(1) The school district will provide to parents a list of suggested foods and beverages that meet Smart Snacks nutrition standards.

2. Rewards and incentives. If foods or beverages are used as rewards for academic performance or good behavior, schools will encourage those that meet USDA Smart Snacks nutrition standards and will not withhold foods or beverages as punishment unless this practice is allowed by a student’s individual education plan or behavior intervention plan.

3. Caution will be exercised when offering foods and materials that may cause allergic reactions. The use of non-food rewards and celebrations is encouraged. Foods brought from outside sources that are to be provided to the entire class may only include fresh produce or pre-packaged and store- bought items. Food items must also include nutrition and ingredient information.

4. Fundraising. The school district will make available to parents and teachers a list of suggested healthy fundraising ideas.

5. The school district will support and encourage requirements that foods made available on campus outside of the school day (including, but not limited to, concessions, school stores, vending and other instances where food or beverages are provided or sold) meet USDA Child Nutrition Standards.

6. To promote hydration, free, safe, unflavored drinking water will be available to all students throughout the school day and at every school campus.

a. The district will make drinking water available where school meals are served during meal times.

E. Food and Beverage Marketing in Schools

1. School-based marketing will be consistent with nutrition education and health promotion.

2. Schools will restrict food and beverages marketing to the promotion of only those foods and beverages that meet the Smart Snacks nutrition standards.

VI. Wellness Leadership and Community Involvement 

A. Wellness Coordinator

1. The superintendent will designate a school district official to serve as the wellness coordinator. The wellness coordinator will oversee the school district’s wellness-related activities and ensure that each school implements the policy.

2. The principal or designee of each school district building will ensure compliance within the school and, upon request, will report to the wellness coordinator regarding Wellness Policy compliance.

B. Public Involvement

1. The wellness coordinator will permit parents, students, representatives of the school food authority, teachers of physical education, school health professionals, the School Board, school administrators, and the general public to participate in the development, implementation and periodic review and update of the wellness policy.

2. The wellness coordinator will hold meetings for the purpose of discussing the development, implementation, and periodic review and update of the wellness policy. All meeting dates and times will be posted on the school district’s website and will be open to the public.

C. The assistant superintendent for finance and operations and the director of community services and recreation will convene and facilitate development of and updates to the wellness policy, and will ensure each school’s compliance with the policy.

VII. Policy Implementation and Monitoring

A. Implementation and Publication

1. Upon approval by the School Board, the Wellness Policy will be implemented throughout the school district.

2. The school district will post its Wellness Policy on its website.

B. Annual Reporting

1. The wellness coordinator will annually inform the public about the content and implementation of the Wellness Policy and make the policy and any updates to the policy available to the public

C. Triennial Assessment

1. At least once every three years, the school district will evaluate compliance with the Wellness Policy to assess the implementation of the policy and create a report that includes the following information:

a. The extent to which schools under the jurisdiction of the school district are in compliance with the Wellness Policy; and

b. The extent to which the school district’s Wellness Policy compares to model local wellness policies; and

c. A description of the progress made in attaining the goals of the school district’s Wellness policy.

2. The Wellness Coordinator will be responsible for conducting the triennial assessment.

3. The triennial assessment report shall be posted on the school district’s website or otherwise made available to the public.

D. Recordkeeping

The school district will retain records to document compliance with the requirements of the Wellness Policy. The records to be retained include, but are not limited to:

1. The school district’s written Wellness Policy.

2. Documentation demonstrating the community’s involvement in the Wellness Policy development and implementation processes.

3. Documentation of the triennial assessment of the Wellness Policy including an indication of who is involved in the update and methods the school district uses to make stakeholders aware of their ability to participate on the Wellness Committee.

Legal References: 
Minn.Stat. § 121A.215 (Local School District Wellness Policy)
42 U.S.C. § 1751 et seq. (Healthy and Hunger-Free Kids Act)
42 U.S.C. § 1758b (Local School Wellness Policy)
42 U.S.C. § 1771 et seq. (Child Nutrition Act of 1966)
7 U.S.C. § 5341 (Establishment of Dietary Guidelines)
7 C.F.R. § 210.10 (School Lunch Program Regulations)
7 C.F.R. § 220.8 (School Breakfast Program Regulations)

Local Resources: 
WBLAS Wellness Program Webpage
Minnesota Department of Education 
Minnesota Department of Health

County Health Departments
Action for Healthy Kids Minnesota 
United States Department of Agriculture