The School District of Palm Beach County, Florida - Healthy School Teams
Celebrating 10 Years Of Wellness
Healthy School Teams
New this year, ALL schools were required to have a Healthy School Team -- no exceptions! While there are some federal requirements that were mandatory, each Healthy School Team had a tremendous amount of autonomy.
As a group, we encouraged our schools to develop a diverse team to create a "Wellness Culture" inside each school that aligned with the principal's vision and best served the needs of the children they served. We recommended that each team invite the following members to participate on the team to ensure all health and wellness perspectives were incorporated:
Wellness Designee (Assistant Principal)
Wellness Champion (Staff Wellness)
Physical Education Teacher
School Food Service Manager
Guidance Counselor
School Nurse
Health Teacher
Afterschool Director
Parents
Students
Community Members
Healthy School Teams were encouraged to infuse the three "Pillars of Wellness" inside the school -- Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Emotional Well-Being.
Resources were provided to each Healthy School Team which included:
Newly Developed Healthy School Team webpage containing additional information and access to resources. www2.palmbeachschools.org/sfs/healthyschoolteams/
HST Newsletter
Healthy School Team Newsletter was also created in FY16 to share information and provide coaching to schools as they assembled their teams for the first time.
Mandatory Responsibilities of the Healthy School Team:
1 Confirm that School is in alignment with the:
USDA Competitive Food Regulation (Smart Snacks) - 7 CFR Parts 210 and 220
School Food Service Management Policy (6.185)
2 Monitor Food Fundraisers and Report Exemptions outside the Allowable
3 ParameterComplete and Submit an Annual Assessment
Summary:
- All food SOLD to students on campus from midnight to 30 minutes after the end of the school day, in vending machines, during fundraisers and other activities must meet the requirements of the 7 CFR 210.11 (Smart Snacks Rule ‐ see chart below). After‐school events, off‐campus events and non‐food based sales are not affected by this rule.
- Carbonated zero‐calorie or diet beverages are allowed to be sold, in high schools (9‐12) in vending machines.
- No ready‐to‐eat combination foods consisting of a meat/meat alternate (protein) and grain (ex: hamburger, sandwich, chicken biscuit) can be sold outside of the Food Service program during the school day.
- Food and Beverages sold in Vending Machines must comply with the “USDA Smart Snacks in School Standards” at all times.
Healthy School Team Annual Assessment:
In FY16 to align our effort and to remain in compliance with federal regulations, the annual assessment for Healthy School Teams and the Wellness Promotion Policy were combined. This assessment was sent out to all Healthy School Team members in a hard copy version prior to its official on-line release. Healthy School Team members were encouraged to work as a team to complete the assessment on paper first before submitting it online. All principals were notified of this annual assessment required through a District Bulletin. Healthy School Team members were also encouraged to forward the assessment information along to their principals. Unfortunately we had some assessment glitches since this were the first implementation of this process. As a result, the submission deadline was extended to August 2016.
Outlined below are assessment results: