Nutrition Education and Promotion Goals
GOAL 1: Nutrition Education and Promotion: schools will provide nutrition education and engage in nutrition promotion that helps students develop lifelong healthy eating behaviors.
- Provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to promote and protect their health;
- Promote fruits, vegetables, whole-grain products, low-fat and fat-free dairy products, and healthy foods;
GOAL 2: Physical Activity: Schools will provide students with age and grade appropriate opportunities to engage in physical activity that meet the Iowa Healthy Kids Act.
- Promote the benefits of a physically active lifestyle and help students develop skills to engage in lifelong healthy habits;
- Afford elementary students with recess according to the following: At least 20 minutes a day, outdoors as weather and time permits, and encourages moderate to vigorous physical activity;
- Discourage all employees from using physical activity (e.g. running laps, pushups) or withholding opportunities for physical activity (e.g. recess, physical education) as punishment;
GOAL 3: Other School Based Activities that Promote Wellness: As appropriate, schools will support students, staff, and parents’ efforts to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
-
- Permit students to bring and carry water bottles filled with water throughout the day;
- Promote wellness activities and opportunities during professional development;
- Encourage opportunities for physical activities to be incorporated into lessons across all subject areas using the Get Movin’ Activity Breaks packet from the Iowa Department of Public Health and the Iowa Nutrition Network.
Public Involvement:
The district will ensure that parents, students, representatives of the school food authority, physical education teachers, school health professionals, school board members, administrators, and other members of the public have meaningful opportunities to participate in the development, implementation, periodic review, and update of the school wellness policy.
To facilitate this engagement, the district will establish a Local Wellness Policy Committee to provide guidance and recommendations regarding the development, implementation, evaluation, and ongoing improvement of the policy. The committee will meet periodically to review progress toward wellness goals and to recommend updates as needed to promote the health and well-being of all students and staff.
Nutrition Education and Promotion Activities
The school district will provide nutrition education and engage in nutrition promotion that:
- is offered at each grade level K-8, and is an optional course at the high school, as part of a sequential, comprehensive, standards-based program designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to promote and protect their health;
- is part of not only health education classes, but also classroom instruction in subjects such as math, science, language arts, social sciences and elective subjects;
- includes enjoyable, developmentally appropriate, culturally relevant participatory activities, such as contests, promotions, taste-testing, farm visits and school gardens;
- promotes fruits, vegetables, whole-grain products, low-fat and fat-free dairy products, healthy food preparation methods and health-enhancing nutrition practices;
- emphasizes caloric balance between food intake and physical activity;
- links with meal programs, other foods and nutrition-related community services; and,
- includes training for teachers and other staff.
Approved August 27, 2018
Reviewed November 19, 2025
Revised December 17, 2025
