Wellness Policy

What is a Wellness Policy?

A Wellness Policy is an integrated school, parent, and community approach for enhancing the health and well-being of students. School health advisory councils, coalitions, and broadly based constituencies for school health help build support for school health program efforts. Schools actively solicit parent involvement and engage community resources and services to respond more effectively to the health-related needs of students.

Want to be involved in helping develop the School System’s Wellness Policy? Well we would welcome your help! You can either, contact your school and ask to speak to a member of the Wellness Committee, or you can contact the Wellness Dietitian at the District Level who is in charge of Wellness (Allison Lairscy - [email protected] -706-554-5393). Allison Lairscy reviews the Wellness Policy every three years to update it as necessary. Then ask them if you can be a part of the process in developing the local school wellness policy!

She gets representatives from each school to help review the policy and update it and then present it to the Board of Education for approval. We always love to include parents, community members, teachers, administration, School Nutrition staff, nurses, physical education staff and any other stakeholders who would like to be a part of the process.

Wellness Goals for the 2019 - 2020 School Year

Nutrition education -

1. The wellness RD will conduct at least 5 Charlie Cart sessions at each school during the 2019-2020 school year.

2. Each Tower Garden will harvest and conduct a class taste test at least twice during the 2019-2020 school year and regularly incorporate nutrition education into Tower Garden interactions.

Nutrition promotion-

1. One bulletin board in each school cafeteria will be updated with nutrition promotional materials at least once per year.

2. The Mealviewer TV screens located in/near each school cafeteria will be utilized on a daily basis to promote local fruits and vegetables served at school and general consumption of healthy foods in a way that is appealing to students.

Physical activity -

1. At least one school-wide wellness initiative will be offered at elementary schools this year that utilizes physical activity-based incentives.

2. All middle school students will increase physical activity throughout the day with implementation of school-wide brain breaks, incentivized by monthly raffle prizes for brain break participation.

School-based activities -

1. At least one handout will be provided to all teachers to encourage non-food based classroom incentives.

2. At least one handout will be provided to all parents each year providing examples of health swaps.

3. Elementary school students will be offered to participate in Screen Free week at least once per year with a physical-activity based reward.

4. Teachers will be offered to participate in Biggest Stepper Challenge to increase daily physical activity.

USDA Non-Discrimination Statement

In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.

Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USDA-OASCR%20P-Complaint-Form-0508-0002-508-11-28-17Fax2Mail.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:

mail:
S. Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or
fax:
(833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or
email:
[email protected]