Home > Governing
Board > Board Policies
> Section I > Board Policy
Governing Board Policies
Section I: Instructional Program
Print Version
In MS Word | In
Adobe PDF
Policy Title: District Wellness Regulation
Policy Code: IHAM-R
Lead Department: Academic Excellence and Food Services
Schools shall implement a comprehensive, integrated
program for these two components of a coordinated school health
program, nutrition and physical activity. The district department
assigned the responsibility for comprehensive health education
will maintain current resources and references to assist schools
in this process. The district department(s) assigned the responsibility
for professional development will provide support to assist
schools and departments in meeting these requirements.
Progress towards attainment of this will occur within timelines
directed by the Superintendent or designee.
Communication with Parents and Guardians:
- Nutrition education and physical activity information
will be provided by district/school to parents and guardians
beginning at the elementary level. The goal will be to continue
to educate parents and guardians throughout middle and high
school levels.
- The district/school will provide nutrition education
and physical activity information in the form of handouts,
postings on the district website, articles and information
provided in district or school newsletters, presentations
that focus on nutritional value and healthy lifestyles,
and through any other appropriate means available for reaching
parents and guardians.
- The district/school will encourage parents and guardians
to pack healthy lunches and snacks if not using the district
meals programs and to refrain from including beverages and
foods that do not meet the nutrition standards for individual
foods and beverages.
- Meals and beverages from home should be for individual
use and not group consumption.
- The district/school will provide parents and guardians
a list of foods that will meet district and state snack
standards and ideas for healthy celebrations/parties, rewards
and fundraising activities.
- The district/school will encourage parents and guardians
to participate in physical activities with their children.
Employee Nutrition & Physical Activity Education:
Schools and district departments will value the health and
well-being of every employee and will plan and implement activities
and procedures that support personal efforts to maintain a
healthy lifestyle within allowable practices for risk management
with the purposes of:
- Encouraging all school and department employees to sustain
or improve their own personal health and wellness which
is supported by the TUSD Employee Wellness Committee;
- Improving morale;
- Creating positive role modeling;
- Building the commitment of employees to promote the healthy
lifestyle choices of students;
- Building the commitment of employees to help improve the
school nutrition and physical activity environment.
TUSD and the Employee Wellness Committee will provide nutrition
and physical activity education opportunities for employees.
These educational opportunities may include, but not be limited
to, the distribution of educational and informational materials
and the arrangement of presentations and workshops that focus
on nutritional value and healthy lifestyles, health assessments,
fitness activities, and other appropriate nutrition and physical
activity-related topics.
NUTRITION
Student Nutrition Education:
The Tucson Unified School District has a comprehensive curriculum
approach to nutrition in Kindergarten through 12th grade by
utilizing the Arizona State Standards for Comprehensive Health.
All K-12 instructional staff will integrate nutritional themes
into daily lessons when appropriate. The health benefits of
good nutrition should be emphasized. These nutritional themes
include but are not limited to:
- Knowledge of USDA Revised Food Guidance System
- Healthy Heart Choices
- Sources & variety of foods
- Dietary Guidelines for Americans
- Diet and disease
- Understanding calories and activity
- Healthy snacks
- Healthy breakfast
- Healthy diet
- Food labels
- Major nutrients
- Multicultural influences
- Serving sizes
- Proper Food Safety/Sanitation
- Identify and limit foods of low nutrient density
- Media literacy related to nutrition
The District Wellness Policy and District Nutrition Standards
reinforce nutrition education to help students practice these
themes in a supportive school environment.
The School Breakfast & Lunch Programs:
- The full meal school breakfast and lunch programs will
continue to follow the USDA Requirements for Federal School
Meals Programs and Arizona state statutes regarding foods
and beverages in the school environment.
- The district’s School Food Service Program will
follow the District Nutrition Standards and applicable federal
and state statutes when determining the items sold separately
and/or meals not sold as part of the Federal School Meals
Programs.
- À la carte and competitive foods items that do
not meet the District Nutrition Standards may be acceptable
when offered on a very infrequent, intermittent basis and
must be recorded in the Annual Report but cannot be offered
if prohibited by federal or state law.
- The Food Services Director serves as Co-Chair of
the District Wellness Committee and works closely with the
committee regarding the district’s school meals programs.
Cafeteria Environment:
- Through planning and coordination of available resources,
students will have a cafeteria environment that provides:
- Adequate space to eat in a relaxed, enjoyable climate;
- Clean and pleasant surroundings;
- Meal periods of sufficient time and number to be
served and to eat in a timely manner;
- Convenient access to hand washing or hand sanitizing
facilities before meals.
Fundraising:
- All fund-raising projects follow district policy and regulations
for fund raising and are encouraged to follow the District
Nutrition Standards (Exhibit I).
- All fund-raising projects for sale and consumption of
food and beverages during the normal school day will follow
the District Nutrition Standards except for public events.
- The normal school day includes before, during and after
school, but does not include special events, such as athletic
contests or performances held outside the normal school
day.
Food Use in the Classroom:
- The use of food items as part of a student incentive program
is strongly discouraged. Should teachers feel compelled
to utilize food items as an incentive or a break, they are
required to adhere to the District Nutrition Standards and
Arizona Nutrition Standards. A list of healthy snack foods
provided by teachers or school staff will be available from
the district food service program director.
- Schools are encouraged to have celebrations without involving
food. However, when celebrations involve food during the
normal school day they are required to adhere to the District
Nutrition Standards and Arizona Nutrition Standards.
Corporate Food and Beverage Marketing in Schools:
Corporate school-based marketing (i.e. marquees, signs) will
be consistent with nutrition education, national health initiatives,
health promotion, and federal, state or local regulations.
Schools will:
- Limit food and beverage marketing to the promotion of
foods and beverages that meet the federal, state, and district
nutrition standards for meals or for foods and beverages
sold individually;
- Prohibit school-based marketing of brands promoting predominantly
low-nutrition foods and beverages;
- Promote healthy foods consistent with the MyPyramid food
guidance system; and
- Market activities that promote healthful behaviors (and
are therefore allowable) including vending machine covers
promoting water and pricing structures that promote healthy
options in a la carte lines or vending machines.
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
Physical Activity:
Tucson Unified School District recognizes that physical activity
is essential for students to maximize their full academic
capabilities and reach their physical and mental potentials.
Schools shall provide, through physical education and physical
activity, skills and knowledge to prepare students to live
a physically active lifestyle and to be prepared as a community
of learners for lifelong health and well-being.
Tucson Unified School District shall utilize the following
Implementation Strategies:
- It is recommended that physical education classes be provided
at a minimum of two times per week for grades K-8 and meet
the district requirement for grades 9-12.
- Instruction in physical education should be provided by
highly qualified teachers.
- Opportunities for physical activity shall be offered
daily before school, during school (recess or integrated
in classroom) and/or after school and available for all
students.
- All students will be provided with activity choices for
lifelong enjoyment of fitness.
- Assist students to interpret their personal levels of
health related fitness and compare them to the national
physical activity recommendations.
- Schools are required to follow Arizona State Standards
for Comprehensive Health and Physical Activity. These standards
are supported by the following recommendations of the National
Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE):
- Physical Education
- Engage students in 150 minutes per week for elementary
and 225 minutes per week for middle and high schools.
- Guide students through a process that will enable
them to achieve and maintain a high level of personal
fitness.
- Expose students to a wide variety of physical
activities.
- Teach physical skills to help maintain a lifetime
of health and fitness.
- Encourage self-monitoring so students can see
how active they are and set their own goals.
- Individualize intensity of activities.
- Focus feedback on process of doing your best
rather than on product.
- Be active role models.
- Physical Activity
- Students should accumulate at least 60 minutes,
and up to several hours, of age-appropriate physical
activity on all or most days of the week.
- Students should participate in several bouts of
physical activity lasting 15 minutes or more each
day.
- Students should participate each day in a variety
of age-appropriate physical activities designed
to achieve optimal health, wellness, fitness and
performance benefits.
- Extended periods (periods of two hours or more)
of inactivity are discouraged for children, especially
during the daytime hours.
- Physical education content shall be sequential, building
from year to year and content will include movement, personal
fitness, and personal and social responsibility. Schools
will ensure that students are moderately to vigorously physically
active (MVPA) at least fifty percent (50%) of the time while
participating in physical education classes. Students should
be able to demonstrate competency through application of
knowledge, skill and practice.
- Introduce health-related fitness assessment and activity
logging.
- For example, introduce the Fitnessgram and Activitygram
in the primary grades.
- Beginning in the intermediate levels and continuing
through middle school and high school, administer a
health-related fitness assessment with students. Students
shall receive results and use this as a baseline in
understanding their own level of fitness, creating fitness
goals and plans, and logging activities identified to
achieve the goals.
- Schools are encouraged to offer after-school intramural
programs and/or physical activity clubs and open gyms that
meet the needs and interests of all students, parents and
the community, including those who are not involved in athletics
or those with special health care needs.
- Grades pre-kindergarten through six will have recess
a minimum of once a day beyond lunch recess.
- The District will not tolerate the use of physical activity
as punishment, the withholding of participation in physical
activity/education as punishment, or the use of physical
education class time to complete assignments from other
classes.
Reviewed: June 30, 2006 (Friday Report)
Revision: August 4, 2006 (Friday Report)
Revision: September 22, 2006 (Friday Report)
Legal Ref: 15-242 Nutritional Standards
15-341 General Powers and Duties
15-720 Noncurriculum related clubs for grades seven and eight;
definitions
R7-2-301 Minimum Course of Study and Competency Goals for
Students in
the Common Schools
R7-2-302 Minimum Course of Study and Competency Requirements
for
Graduation from High School
R7-2-302.04 Minimum Course of Study and Competency Requirements
for
Graduation from High School
For
more information contact: