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Create a Wellness Team
Policies and plans developed in isolation rarely
succeed long-term, so it is critical that you establish a solid
foundation for your school wellness program by involving many
stakeholders. A Wellness Team should include those who can make
decisions concerning your school's program, as well as those who
will be affected by it. See below or visit Who's
Who on the Wellness Team for more information.
Work With Existing
Structures or Start Fresh?
A Wellness Committee or Team may already have been
created to respond to the federal wellness policy mandate. Depending
on your school and experience to date, you have several options:
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Work with the existing committee to put together
the plan and implement it;
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Add new members to the committee to enhance
the scope and impact of the team throughout the school; or
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Create a new team more aligned with the specific
Wellness planning and implementation needs of your school environment.
Understand Your School's Program
Understanding how your school's food service, PE
and health education program is structured is important when forming
a team. Below is a list of questions that are designed to help
you more effectively navigate your school's decision-making process:
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Is your food service contracted out or handled
in-house? Does contracting take place at the school or district
level? Who has responsibility for developing the contract requirements,
selecting the contractor and monitoring the performance? What
is the end date of the current contract? The person responsible
for relating to the contractor should be included on your Wellness
Team.
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Who makes decisions about food product selection
and equipment purchases? In some cases, purchasing decisions
are made through district-wide contracts. If that is the case,
you need to know who has the authority to make that decision,
what the current requirements are and when the current contract
expires. Sometimes there is a district-wide contract that provides
many different products and a school-level employee makes the
specific purchasing decision. Understanding how the budget is
established is important.
- Who in the school administration is responsible for Physical
Education and Physical Activity? Who makes the decision about
budgeting and hiring PE instructors, curriculum, scheduling and
equipment purchases? This individual should be on the Wellness
Team.
- Who represents the needs of parents, teachers and students?
A union representative, PTA president and student council member
should also be included on the team.
Who Should Be Involved?
A Wellness Team should include representatives from
among the following groups within the school:
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School Nurse - Today's school
nurses do much more than take temperatures and dispense medication.
These healthcare professionals have an impact on the well-being,
academic success, and life-long achievement of students. At
the forefront of the battle against childhood obesity, the school
nurse can be the leading champion for school wellness. For more
on the role of school nurses, click here.
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Principal - Gaining the support
and involvement of the principal is very important. The principal
can make sure the wellness team has the right people and resources
to succeed. The principal also can make necessary changes in
school policy to allow wellness strategies to work, for instance,
change the daily schedule to allow recess before lunch or negotiate
healthier, more nutritious items in vending machines.
- Parents - In order for good health habits
started at school to be maintained, they must be reinforced at
home. Parents can become your best wellness allies and role models
if they are engaged in this process from the beginning, and if
their viewpoints and cultural traditions are taken into account.
Be sure to involve your parent-teacher organization, as their
members can be a great resource and advocate for your efforts.
- Students - You can lead a student to wellness,
but you can’t make her eat well and exercise if he's receiving
the opposite message from peers and the media. Students should
be included in discussions about wellness and encouraged to speak
out about the challenges they face. Capture student voices and
give them opportunities to communicate with peers about the benefits
of healthy lifestyles.
- Teachers - Involve teachers, especially PE
teachers, who can emphasize physical fitness as well as healthy
eating on a daily basis. Wellness messages also can extend beyond
the PE or Health Class and be incorporated into academic subjects
in a variety of ways. Teachers also serve as important role models
to students for pursuing healthy lifestyles.
- Food Service Director - When it comes to wellness
programs, no one faces more challenges than the food service director,
who must try to provide appealing, nutritious meals to a large
number of children with extremely limited human and financial
resources. It is essential that you involve the food service director
and approach her with an understanding of her requirements and
limitations.
- Community Leader - Board of education members, healthcare professionals, public health officials, social workers and counselors, county extension workers, public officials, and community organizations can provide helpful insights and resources for efforts to improve student health.
In addition, in some situations, a school also may
wish to include:
The Coordinator's Role
The Wellness Team Coordinator's role is to promote
teamwork and further decision-making. His or her main functions
include:
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Leadership: Coordinates the
Wellness Team and encourages a sense of shared responsibility
and cooperative effort. Provides the Team with information,
and in coordination with other members, oversees implementation
of the wellness plan
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Communication and Coordination:
Disseminates information, facilitates meetings, tracks the health
status of students and staff, and communicates with school administration,
staff, students, parents, and the press.
Choosing the Coordinator
The coordinator does not have to be an expert in
food, fitness or student health. Ideally, he or she should be
someone with a genuine interest in improving school wellness and
have the authority to interact with district-level administrators,
school staff, students, and parents, and to make budget recommendations.
In larger school districts, the coordinator may
be a district-level administrator, such as a business official
or health and safety officer. In smaller school systems and individual
schools, the Coordinator may be the principal, school nurse, a
teacher, or other school staff. Occasionally, it is necessary
to designate co-coordinators or set up subcommittees to divide
work into manageable chunks and work on issues outside the meeting
times. Subcommittees may be composed of selected individuals from
the community, such as local health department staff, parents,
and volunteers from local businesses who have special skills,
such as healthcare providers or fitness trainers.
Establish a Team Schedule
Convene the Wellness Team frequently and establish
a regular time to meet. In the beginning, weekly or biweekly meetings
may be required to work out the Wellness Plan. Later, monthly
or quarterly meetings may be sufficient to update participants
on progress, address problems and concerns, and revise the plan.
Establish a Space
Space is a premium in most schools. However, your
team will be generating materials that must be organized in a
usable fashion. Finding a space that the team can call home will
help keep the process organized and focused on the mission, avoiding
the "fell through the cracks" syndrome. In the tightest
quarters, even a dedicated file cabinet and a table in the staff
lounge can be effective.
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Five Ways