Wellness Policy

Utah International Charter School

Wellness Policy 

Board Policy and Statement of Principles

Utah International Charter School Board of Education is committed to providing a school environment that enhances learning and fosters lifelong wellness practices for all. 

Utah International recognizes the relationship between personal wellness and learning outcomes. 

Utah International recognizes the importance of having all faculty and staff model healthy behaviors to promote community wellness practices.  

Utah International recognizes that one important aspect of wellness is achieved by promoting diversity in the school community.

2023-2024 Wellness Goals

  • Educate parents and students about the importance of reducing the spread of communicable diseases through proper hygiene, seeking medical care when needed, and staying home when ill.
  • Provide information for families (and for staff to communicate to families) about our school’s attendance policy and how good attendance is related to positive learning outcomes.
  • Students will be encouraged to eat healthy food choices such as fruits and vegetables daily through the school breakfast, lunch, and after-school nutrition programs.
  • Deliver professional development on wellness strategies for self-care and suicide prevention. 

Guidelines 

Nutrition Promotion 

  1. Child Nutrition Programs shall comply with Federal, State, and local requirements and be accessible to all children. All foods made available on campus through the Child Nutrition Program will meet or exceed the USDA nutrition requirements. In addition, menu patterns for all meals served on campus during the school day will seek to promote fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains while reducing refined sugar, refined flour, excessive saturated fat, and sodium as outlined by the Healthy-Free Kids Act (HHFKA). 
  2. Nutrition Information of the school lunch program is available through the Granite School District Nutrition Services websites. Nutrition links are also available on their website and the USDA website. 
  3. Utah International Charter School will make clean drinking water available and accessible throughout the building during operating school hours. 

Nutrition Guidelines for all foods available on campus during the school day 

  1. Per the federal competitive food regulation, all food, and beverages sold to students during the school day other than School Breakfast and School Lunch must meet the nutrition standards of the Code of Federal Regulations Title 7  Section 210.11: Competitive food service and standards. 
  1. All school vending options for students will be required to comply with USDA Smart Snack Standards when sold during the school day. 
  2. Out of respect for all students they are allowed to bring culturally relevant food choices from home. 
  3. The school will work closely with meal providers to ensure that nutrition-related medical and religious needs are met.
  4. After school sales are not associated with the guidelines, however they are encouraged to meet dietary guidelines. 
  5. Fundraising events are allowed to sell food items even if they do not meet the national food standard no more than 5 consecutive days and no more than 15 days in the school year, as allowed by the federal nutrition rules.  
  6. School dances and events will serve healthy options alongside culturally sensitive options.
  7. Staff will avoid associating food with reward or punishment, and will strive to set a good example of healthy eating behaviors.
  8. According to USBE all food complaints need to be addressed by filling out an online form through the USDA office website at: https://www.usda.gov/oascr/filing-program-discrimination-complaint-usda-customer .

Physical Activity and Health, Nutrition, and Fitness Education 

  1. Comprehension Health, Nutrition and Physical Education Standards will be taught in accordance to the current Utah State Core Curriculum Standards by interdisciplinary teams. 
  2. Utah International will provide high-quality physical education instruction to 6th, 7th and 8th graders at least one period per week, and a minimum of 1.5 credits of physical education to students in grades 9 to 12.  Students will participate in .5 credit of health education in junior high and .5 credit in high school.  PE and health curricula will emphasize development of lifelong healthy nutrition and fitness habits supported by current research.
  3. Utah International faculty will be encouraged to promote physical activity breaks during class time in all subject areas.
  4. Equipment to promote healthy fitness lifestyles will be provided during longer breaks. 
  5. The school will develop an array of athletic and fitness activities as part of its after-school program, will encourage walking and other daily physical activity for all its students, and will make outdoor space available and safe for athletic activity during breaks and before and after school. Staff are encouraged to model and promote physical fitness and regular physical activity.

Marketing and Advertising on campus: 

  1. Utah International will not expose students to marketing of any kind in school publications, fundraisers, or classroom materials. All advertising must be approved by the Principal. 

Employee Wellness:

  1. Utah International will encourage all employees to participate in the school wellness programs. 

Parent, Guardian, Educator, and Community Involvement                                                                                                  All stakeholders will be invited to join Wellness Committee meetings as full participants to review the wellness policy and update goals annually.                                                                                                                                            

Assessing the Wellness Policy 

  1. The Wellness Policy for Utah International Charter School is approved by the leadership team and implemented by the school principal, food services director, and other staff.
  2. A wellness committee comprised of a School Board Member, Health/Physical Educator, teacher representatives, school lunch personnel, administrators, parents, students and community members are encouraged to participate in a meeting to review the current policy, oversees appropriate updates to the policy, setting new health related goals, health and safety policy overview, to ensure compliance every three years and meet annually to set new goals.
  3. Utah International Charter School will inform and update the public about the content and implementation of the local wellness policy through the school website and newsletters. 

References:

United States Code Annotated Title 42 Section 1758b Local school wellness policy

Code of Federal Regulations 210.11 Competitive food services and standards 7 C.F.R. 210.11

Granite School District Food Services https://www.graniteschools.org/nutritionservices/ 

USDA Smart Snack in School Standards http://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/defalt/files/cn/allfoodsflyer.

http://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/defalt/files/tn/USDASmartSnacks.pdf

Utah Administrative Code Rule R 277-719-6. LEA Wellness Policy 

Utah Administrative Code Rule R 277-719. Standards for Selling Foods Outside of the Reimbursable Meal in Schools.

Utah Administrative Code Rule R 277-719-5. Fundraising Using Food/Beverages.

Wellness notes:

2023-2024 Committee Members: 

Committee Chair: Ashlee Mullender (High School Health and Physical Educator), 

Committee Members: Kathy Clark (School Board Representative), Kari Johnson (Vice Principal), Andrew Maguire (Junior High Science Teacher), Sherri Berrest (Head Lunch Personal), and Ismael Alebbo (Student Representative)

Data Review Process 2023-2024: 

Please be specific in your comments, observations, and suggestions. 

1. What (if any) are your concerns with the current wellness policy? 

2. Identify possible solutions/modifications that we need to make.

3. Develop new wellness goals for the year. 

4. Look over the nutrition, physical education, food services data.

(Provide answers with supporting evidence and or research when possible.)

5. Please be respectful of others. Allow for idea’s and discussion as well as taking notes or providing comments on this shared document for evidence of our triennial assessment process for public review. 

Data review comments:

Meeting 1: Sept. 2023 3:00pm to 4:00pm

Wellness policy proposed changes:(Kari Johnson’s comment) does it give the wrong impression on teaching the importance of reducing the spread of communicable disease and  staying home when ill vs come to school with the attendance policy. Should we consider changing one?

Nutrition: (Ashlee Mullender’s comment)The school has to follow the USDA food standards and snack choices for students. Students are taught nutritional standards in health courses for three weeks as well as fitness for life courses for six weeks. (Andrew Maguire’s Comment) I teach nutrition and body systems in my science class. Other middle school teachers teach the other health standards.

Physical Education: (Ashlee Mullender’s Comment) High School Students receive 60 minutes of physical activity 3 times a week and a learning component 2 times a week for human physiology. Junior High Students receive one 60 minute class weekly as well as 20 minutes in the morning and at lunch playing various activities or sports. 

(Kathy Clark’s comment) Are the Junior High students getting enough time during the school day if they only get 60 minutes once a week? How are we meeting physical activity minutes necessary for personal health and wellness? 

Food Services: (Sherri Berrest’s comment) Shared granite district food services breakfast and meal schedule and the daily meal data for last year’s breakfast and lunch programs. She also sets up the snack for after school. Nutrislice is the food services system used. (Kathy Clark’s Comment) How do you encourage students to eat fruit and vegetables daily? Sherri’s response is that the students have to take a fruit or vegetable during breakfast and lunch. That is how we encourage healthy food choices. I can’t force them to eat it but they must take one.  

Meeting 2: Nov 2023 From 3:00pm to 4:00pm 

All members: Went over the WellSAT 3.0 scores 

Kari: We need to codify the ranks of 0 into the wellness policy. 

Ashlee: I suggest our next meeting be a digital meeting where we each read over the changes to the policy and make comments to agree or disagree with the wording. 

Meeting 3: Nov 2023 Online comment meeting every member needs to make their changes to the current policy and agree to any made. 

All members commented on the online document to agree to the changes made. 

Meeting 4: May 2024 FROM 3:00PM TO 4:00PM  We will discuss if we met the goals for the year and propose new goals for next year. Go over Sex ed materials. 

What other things related to wellness would we like to consider? 

-Monthly Wellness Challenges for staff and students

-Medical Insurance Wellness Program for faculty and staff

-Student vs Teacher Events

-CPR certifications for all staff and faculty