New Resource Helps Make School Wellness a Reality
July 1, 2006 was the deadline set forth by the
Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 for school districts participating in the
National School Lunch Program or
School Breakfast Program to develop and launch a Local Wellness Policy.
However, a preliminary analysis conducted by
Action for Healthy Kids has revealed that only half of the newly approved policies met all of the minimum guidelines for nutrition and physical education required by the federal government.
Action for Healthy Kids recently collected 112 Local Wellness Policies from districts in rural, urban, and suburban locales. Results from the evaluation show that 40% did not specify who was responsible for the implementation, 19% did not address implementation or evaluation, 18% did not include goals for physical education, and 14% did not specify goals for nutrition education.
Creating local wellness policies can present many challenges. Nevertheless, there are many tools and resources made readily available to help school districts move forward with and implement sound and adequate wellness policies. A recently added resource is We Can! – Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity and Nutrition which can help schools comply with wellness policies tasks and requirements.
Developed through a partnership between four institutes of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), We Can! is a national program designed as a one-stop resource for parents and caregivers interested in practical tools to help children 8-13 years old stay at a healthy weight. Tips and fun activities focus on three critical behaviors: improved food choices, increased physical activity and reduced screen time.
The program offers school staff low cost, practical tools for teaching behaviors around healthy food choices; and ready-to-use materials can be downloaded or ordered in quantity at deep discounts. In addition, We Can! showcases three science-based curricula for youth: Catch Kids Club, Media Smart Youth: Think, Eat, Be Active, and Student Media Awareness to Reduce Television (S.M.A.R.T.). The curricula focuses on healthy nutrition, increased physical activity, decreased screen time, and the media’s role in food marketing.
Moreover, it provides information on portion control and energy balance, and shows ways to learn how good nutrition and physical activity can improve children’s health; live and adopt healthy habits by making smart food choices and staying physically active; and get involved in events and programs that promote wellness in communities and States across the country.
For those who wish to get involved, We Can! is promoting a Rally, a forum to network with and learn from community site leaders, national partners, curricula content experts, and NIH leaders. The Rally will be held on Friday, October 6 and Saturday, October 7, 2006 at the Natcher Conference Center, National Institutes of Health and will feature interactive sessions on the parent and youth curricula, implementing community events, forming partnerships, recruiting participants, and engaging the media to provide valuable strategies to make We Can! programming more effective and engaging.
For additional information on the Rally and the We Can! program, please visit http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/wecan/index.htm To order materials, please call 1-866-35WECAN (1-866-359-3226).
Source: Action for Healthy Kids Press Release, September 5, 2006 and We Can! website.