District Administration - July 2007 - (Page 52)

LEADERSHIP SERIES Web Seminars Focus On: Improving Nutrition School health experts discuss how districts can better serve the needs of their students. FTER THE REAUTHORIZATION OF THE FED eral Child Nutrition Act in 2004, K12 school districts with federally funded meal programs were required to enact wellness policies by the ﬁrst day of the 2006-2007 school year. District Administration recently convened a Web seminar, “Improving Nutrition and Wellness in Schools” to assess the state of, and to promote, quality school wellness programs. The four panelists were Brenda Z. Greene, director of the National School Boards Association’s School Health Programs; A Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest; David Behlow, superintendent of Oswego (Ill.) Community Unit School District; and Kenneth M. Arndt, superintendent of Community Unit School District 300 in Carpentersville, Ill. The panelists discussed how school districts can improve food service programs and encourage students to make healthy choices. Following are excerpts of their comments. The full seminar is archived at www.DistrictAdministration.com/WebSeminars. BRENDA Z. GREENE, Director, NSBA School Health Programs We know that school nutrition and wellness is an important issue to school board members. In a survey of our members last summer, 94 percent said school nutrition is important and 83 percent said schools should limit low-nutrition foods. But only 27 percent said the federal government should play the lead role in setting policies in this area. The majority said the proper federal role should be one of guidance and that policies should be set locally. I think we can all agree on the broad goals. We need to reduce childhood obesity and thereby prevent the kinds of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, that result from being overweight. And we need to do this by working to establish healthy school nutrition and physical activity environments. We believe strongly that process is as important as product. Developing a local wellness policy, which was mandated by the Child Nutrition Act of 2004, must involve all key stakeholders and should 52 July 2007 always be based on local needs. It is important to understand that change is a slow process. Each local district should determine its own path. Districts must convene those stakeholders in developing policy, usually in the form of a standing advisory structure. This is a process, and it must be done through the community. Schools are important players, but change must come through a community-wide eﬀort that involves the media, employers, health services, government agencies and others. MARGO WOOTAN, Nutrition Policy Director, Center for Science in the Public Interest According to a recent national survey, only 2 percent of American children eat what’s considered a healthy diet. The rest eat too much fat, salt, sugar, and not enough fruits and vegetables and whole grains. Schools alone can’t solve this problem, but many institutions—and especially parents—need to be more involved. Change needs to be phased in; trying to do it all at once is too big an undertaking. For schools, the ﬁrst step is addressing meals. Over the past decade, schools have been working hard to improve the nutritional quality of their meals. And they’re making good progress. Typical meals now provide adequate levels of protein, vitamins and minerals. They have less fat and sodium and more fruits and vegetables than the average school meal had 10 years ago. But this work needs to continue. The kinds of changes that would help include serving more fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and especially 1 percent and fatfree milk, since milk is the highest source of saturated fat for children. While school meals have been improving, a continuing concern should be foods sold outside of school cafeterias. USDA standards for such foods were developed in the 1970s and are out of sync with current nutritional thinking. They just don’t make sense. For instance, ice cream bars can be sold but not popsicles, and certain candy bars are in but not seltzer, which is considered a junk food. Many districts worry that if they curtail the sale of snack foods and sweetened beverages they’ll lose an important source of revenue. But there are misconceptions about exactly how much money is being raised through sales of low nutriDistrict Administration http://www.DistrictAdministration.com/WebSeminars

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - July 2007

Contents
Editor’s Letter
Letters
News Update
Facilities/Construction Update
Curriculum Update
Inside the Law
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Cover Story: Rethinking School Bus Safety
Broadening Collective Bargaining
Searching for Subs
Jersey City’s Broad Appeal
Improving Nutrition in Schools
New Products
Computer Literature
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
Research Corner
Problem Solution
Online Edge
Speaking Out
Supervisor’s Opinion
Calendar of Events
Understanding the Times

District Administration - July 2007