The School District of Palm Beach County, Florida
Healthy School Teams
Healthy School Teams
Beginning in FY-2016, Florida Statue required that ALL schools have a Healthy School Team (HST). While there are some federal and state requirements that were mandatory, each Healthy School Team has a tremendous amount of autonomy.
Our schools were encouraged to develop a diverse team to create a "Wellness Culture" on campus that aligned with the principal's vision and best served the needs of their students. We recommended that each team invite the following members to participate on the team to ensure all health and wellness perspectives were incorporated:
Healthy School Teams were encouraged to infuse the three "Pillars of Wellness" inside the school – Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Emotional Well-Being.
To streamline the process and to ensure the District’s compliance with the State Mandate, in the 2017-2018 school year, an automated process was created on SharePoint. School Principals were directed to record their Healthy School Team Leader. Once completed, Healthy School Team Leaders received an automated email directing them to add their Healthy School Team Members on SharePoint. Principals, leaders and team members were given the opportunity to opt into receiving the Healthy School Team Newsletter.
Next school year in 2018-2019, we will streamline the process even further by automatically populating the Healthy School Team Leader with the school principal’s name. Principals will then have the opportunity to reassign the responsibility to someone else if they choose.
To keep the process simple and to ensure that all schools had access to fundamental Healthy School Team materials, a Healthy School Team Resource Center was created on SharePoint.
Resources provided on SharePoint were the following:
HST Newsletter
HST Newsletter was also continued in FY-2018 to share information and provide coaching to schools as they continued to establish their teams and develop their wellness culture. Below is a sample of a HST Newsletter:
Mandatory Responsibilities of the Healthy School Team:
1. Confirm that School is in alignment with the:
2. Monitor Food Fundraisers and Report Exemptions outside the Allowable Parameter
3. Complete 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 ‐ Competitive Food Fundraisers Chart). 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 grades) 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 School 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.
HST/WPP Annual Assessment:
In the 2017-2018 school year to align our effort and to remain in compliance with federal regulations, the annual assessment was sent out to all schools. Principals, Assistant Principals and Healthy School Teams received a hard copy version prior to its official online 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. However, the link to the Healthy School Team Assessment was not included in the published bulletin. Instead all Principals and Assistant Principals received the link to the assessment by way of a newsletter which was sent directly to them. Outlined below are assessment results: