DEVELOPED BY CAPSS POLICY COMMITTEE

In recognition of the declining nutritional intake and increasing obesity in children, Congress passed the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004, which requires by law, that the first day of the school year in 2006, each school district participating in the National School Lunch Program adopt local school wellness policies that address healthy eating and physical activity. The Act aims to improve children's health by expanding the availability of nutritious meals and snacks to more children in schools while also promoting increased activity. The law places the responsibility of developing a wellness policy at the local level so individual needs of each school district can be addressed.

Subsequently, in June, 2005, the Governor directed the CSDE to develop guidelines to promote the development and implementation of comprehensive school nutrition policies by local boards of education. The purpose of these guidelines is to encourage healthy lifestyles in students by addressing:

• methods for promoting physical education;

• methods for promoting healthy meals and food options;

• processes for augmenting health, science or physical education curricula to highlight the need for healthy lifestyles;

• strategies for conducting meetings and forums with parents, teachers, members of boards of education, and parent-teacher organizations to identify the support systems parents need in order to encourage healthy lifestyles in their children;

• techniques to involve students in the discussion of school nutrition as a component of promoting healthy lifestyles; and

• research and data to support implementation of school nutrition policies.

Guidance to districts is provided through the Commissioner's Circular Letter: C-2, dated August 17, 2005.

CAPSS supports the need for good nutritional practices and physical activity. Nevertheless, we know that the issues related to lack of physical activity and poor nutrition are neither exclusively, nor primarily "school problems". Given our role as educators, we can play a role with the community at large in finding solutions. Therefore, CAPSS supports the development of policy as required by the federal legislation and the guidance outlined by the Commissioner in Circular Letter C-2.

As local policy is developed, we recognize that there are implications for implementation that require careful consideration. Examples include socioeconomic and cultural factors that dictate nutritional habits; functions held during and after school as fundraisers; scheduling of recess before lunch and the increase in physical education time allotments. Additionally, as a solution to the problem, CAPSS recognizes the need to involve various stakeholders in the implementation of local policy to ensure understanding and support. The federal legislation clearly articulates the development and implementation of wellness policies as the responsibility of the local district. Therefore, as described in the Action Guide for School Nutrition and Physical Activity Policies each policy component provides recommendations, not requirements, for policy language. The language in the policy guide represents recommended best practice for developing school nutrition and physical activity policies. School districts may choose to use the policy recommendations as written or revise them as needed to meet local needs and reflect community priorities. When developing nutrition and physical activity policies, districts will need to take into account their unique circumstances, challenges, opportunities and available resources.

Finally, CAPSS agrees that we need to offer guidance to schools in the use of vending machines. Therefore, we support the nutrition standards for vending machines that call for healthy snack food choices and beverages limited to milk, water (included flavored waters without added sugar, artificial sweeteners or caffeine) and 100% fruit or vegetable juice.

Chris Clouet and Kathy Binkowski

CAPSS Policy Committee Co-Chairs