Watch this eye-opening video about why school wellness is important in Fort Collins. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K15WDdGH5bg

History of School Wellness in the Poudre School District

In 2004, Congress passed the Child Nutrition and Women Infants and Children (WIC) Reauthorization Act (Sec. 204 of P.L. 108-205). This act required by law that all local education agencies participating in the National School Lunch Program or other child nutrition programs create local wellness policies by May of 2006.

In compliance with the law, Poudre School District, with the help of a well-rounded group of community wellness experts, created a district-wide wellness policy to address the areas of nutrition, physical activity, and physical education. In accordance with this policy, the district established a Physical Fitness and Nutrition Advisory Council to develop a plan of implementation of the policy. Currently led by Nicole Turner-Ravana, a grant-funded district wellness coordinator, the Council, known as PFNAC, meets monthly to serve as a resource to schools and to increase the awareness and implementation of the policy guidelines.

Why School Wellness?

• Provides an opportunity for school districts to create an environment conducive to healthy lifestyle choices.
• Recognizes the critical role of schools in curbing the epidemic of childhood overweight and obesity.
• Acknowledges local community responsibility to support or build on government efforts to uphold high nutrition and physical activity standards for our students.
• Supports the research that says students who have access to regular, vigorous exercise and healthful foods perform better academically.

It’s been five years with a wellness policy – where are we now?

• There are currently 40 schools in PSD with wellness teams implementing Coordinated School Health.
• PSD has a district wellness coordinator dedicated to district-wide wellness policy and initiatives.
• PFNAC continues to meet monthly to advance the implementation of the wellness policy
• PSD just held its annual wellness workshop on October 13, 2011. Open to all PSD wellness team members and community wellness champions, this workshop continues to be an excellent venue for collaboration on wellness initiatives at the school level.
• PSD received a generous $882,127 grant from the Colorado Health Foundation. The 3 ½ year Physical Education Road Map to Excellence (PERE) grant will help PSD P.E. teachers learn about and implement the new state P.E. curriculum standards for students, which were announced last year for implementation in fall 2011. PSD was among the first round of school districts in Colorado to receive grant money from the Colorado Health Foundation to address the new standards.

Articles and Links on School Wellness and ideas for implementing it in your school

As documented in the Action For Healthy Kids report, The Learning Connection, there is a growing body of evidence demonstrating that children who eat poorly or who engage in too little physical activity do not perform as well as they could academically.
http://www.actionforhealthykids.org/resources/files/learning-connection.pdf

Schools play a critical role in promoting the health and safety of young people and helping them establish lifelong healthy behaviors. Research also has shown that school health programs can reduce the prevalence of health risk behaviors among young people and have a positive effect on academic performance. CDC analyzes research findings to develop guidelines and strategies for schools to address health risk behaviors among students and creates tools to help schools implement these guidelines.
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/health_and_academics/index.htm

The American School Health Association has compiled a resource directory with many research publications demonstrating the link between health and academics and what quality school health programs look like.

Constructive Classroom Rewards
http://www.cspinet.org/nutritionpolicy/constructive_rewards.pdf

Physical Activity in the Classroom
http://www.emc.cmich.edu/brainbreaks/