FIA Wellness Policy 20111-2012
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Florida Intercultural Academy believes that the total development of an individual is achieved by ensuring favorable social, emotional, psychological, mental, and physical environment. The school aims to provide an excellent environment for the total growth of its students by establishing and maintaining a comprehensive wellness policy.
GOALS
Nutrition Education: The school believes that proper eating habits and healthy lifestyle are both learned and acquired from structured instruction and from what is observed in the school environment.
Interactive Lessons:
- Interactive nutrition education that develops skills among students to adopt a healthy lifestyle shall be a very important component of the school’s curriculum as stated in the New Generation Sunshine State Standards.
Visible Displays:
- Students shall have access to valid and useful health information and health promotion products and services. Every classroom displays the food pyramid and posters that promote healthy lifestyle.
Menus:
- The school menu encourages development of healthy eating choices and habits. Nutrition guidelines that require the use of products that are high in fiber, low in added fats, sugar and sodium, and served in appropriate portion sizes consistent with USDA standards shall be established for all foods offered by the school’s Nutrition Services Department or contracted vendors.
Parental/ Community Involvement:
Physical Activity: The school believes in the role of physical activities in the well being of every person.
- Activities that require physical movements shall be integrated into the curriculum. Action songs, exercises, calisthenics, dances, and other physical movements are integrated into lessons and shall be an integral part of the lesson plans.
- A twenty minute recess shall be a part of the daily schedule. Recess includes a ten minute structured exercise and ten minute free play.
- A forty five minute Physical Education classes shall be held weekly in all grade levels.
Other School – Based Activities: The school believes that wellness is achieved through various activities and programs.
Environment/Time:
- The students shall be provided with clean and conducive environment for meals.
- The students shall be provided thirty minute mealtimes.
- Adequate space shall be provided for playing and other physical activities.
- The school shall provide an accessible and productive work environment free from physical dangers or emotional threat that is as safe as possible and consistent with applicable occupation and health laws, policies and rules.
- The school shall be in compliance with drug, alcohol and tobacco free policies.
Physical Activities:
- Physical activities that involve the school faculty, personnel and staff, parents and students shall be part of the annual tradition of the school such as:
- Field Day is an annual event at the end of the school year when students are engaged in physical activities such as wall climbing, dunking, bouncing in bounce house, sliding, racing, playing tag. The parents and teachers supervise this event and participate in the games with the children.
- Jump Rope for Heart – is an annual event that runs for a month is sponsored by the American Heart Association. This involves campaign drives to develop awareness among students of the importance of exercise and diet to a healthy heart and a healthy body. The students also participate in achieving a million jumps by accumulating daily jump counts. They help in the fundraising and participate in a culminating activity that involves a rope jumping contest.
- Show of Talents – is an annual event that culminates in a show of individual and group talents such as singing, dancing, dramatics, playing musical instruments and many others. The preparation program for the show allows the students to be involved in a whole year weekly involvement in clubs and practices such as dance troupe, guitar club, recorder club, chorus, keyboard and piano club.
- Car wash –is an annual event where parents, students and teachers help raise funds through car washing.
- Annual 5K Run - is an out- of- school program facilitated by the Physical Education Dept that involves the school’s (parents, students and teachers)participation in a 5K run organized by the school or other organizations.
- Swim Central – is an annual participation in the YMCA sponsored swimming program for the Kindergarten.
- The school shall provide avenues for acquiring healthy lifestyles through various campaigns and activities.
- Employees shall be encouraged to engage in daily physical activity during the workday as part of work breaks and/or lunch periods, before or after work hours in site sponsored programs or as part of discounted membership in local fitness facilities.
Nutrition Guidelines for All Foods Served or Sold:
- The school shall not have any food vending machines in the school vicinity.
- Water shall be accessible in all classrooms and offices
- Food served in the school shall be
- appealing and attractive to children
- served in clean and pleasant setting
- Meet, at a minimum, nutrition requirements established by local, state, and federal statutes and regulations.
- The school shall pre-approve the foods served in parties and other school events to ensure that food choices are compliant to the State Health Standards.
- The school follows the suggestion of the US Institute of Medicine to allow only foods classified in Tier 1, thus candies and other forms of sweets in the school are prohibited.
- “Foods listed as Tier 1 would be allowed at all grade levels during the school day and during after-school activities. Examples of Tier 1 snacks were whole fruit, raisins, carrot sticks, whole-grain low-sugar cereals, some multigrain tortilla chips, some granola bars and nonfat yogurt with no more than 30 grams of added sugars. Entrees could include such items as fruit salad with yogurt or a turkey sandwich. Beverages would be limited to plain water, skim or 1 percent milk, soy beverages and 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice.” - excerpt taken from: http://cbs4.com/health/nutrition.school.snacks.2.395314.html
- On site school food service staff will ensure school’s compliance with nutrition policies, using a compliance checklist, within the school food service areas and will report on this matter to the school principal and the Wellness Policy Committee quarterly.
Evaluating and Measuring the Wellness Policy: Florida Intercultural Academy’s Wellness Policy shall be progressive. It shall be updated and revised as the need arises through the review and approval of the Wellness Policy Committee and the School Board.
- The school designated a Wellness Policy Compliance Officer, Mr. Wayne Williams, the School Dean, who shall ensure that the school is in compliance with its wellness policy through an evaluation checklist.
- The Wellness Policy Compliance Officer will ensure compliance with established nutrition and physical activity wellness policies and will report on the school’s compliance to the school principal, the wellness policy committee and the governing board quarterly.
- All records and activity log will be collected for each physical and nutritional activity and stored at the school site in order to ensure that all activities are documented and complied with, using the current wellness policy.
- To help with the initial development of the school’s wellness policies, the school will conduct a baseline assessment of the school’s existing nutrition and physical activity environments and policies, and revise the policies and develop work plans to facilitate their implementation every three years.
- The school Wellness Policy Committee shall consider the Wellness Policy Compliance Officer’s report, the parent and public input and other school needs to evaluate, improve and revise the Wellness Policy annually.
- In accordance with the Department of Education, Food and Nutrition Dept, an SMI review will be done once every five years and will report all findings and resulting changes to the school.
Public Input and Revisions:
- The school shall provide avenues for public input on the wellness policy. These avenues include but is not limited to:
- Input during PTA Meetings
- Input at the school website via governing board weblink.
- Letter to the Wellness Policy Committee
- The School Flier’s and advertisement shall indicate a statement soliciting input for the improvement of the wellness policy.
- The Wellness Policy Committee shall review, discuss and vote on the input and make the revisions on the Wellness Policy, whenever necessary.
Broward District Wellness Policy: All the goals and policies of the Florida Intercultural Academy adhere to the Broward District Wellness Policy:
Broward County Schools Wellness Policy
- The welcome letter during the opening of school will also contain information of this URL.
Assurance: “We assure that the guidelines for reimbursable school meals shall not be less restrictive than regulations and guidance issued by the United States Department of Agriculture.”
The School Wellness Committee is composed of the following:
Parents:
Ana Partyka, 4 year parent
Alnie Obsioma, 5 year parent
Speranta Baranga, 5 year parent
Jennifer Mite, 4 year parent
Students:
Aldanver Obsioma, 6th grade
Victoria Taylor, 7th grade
Jaydon Garcia, 7th grade
PE/Health Staff: Mr. Fernando Pieras
School Food Service: Ms Patrica Forbes
Mr. John
School Board: Ms. Alicia Ramseur
Dr. Angela Dupree
Ms. Elizabeth Weaver
Indiana Douglas
Wayne Williams
Dr. Gwendolyn Purcell
School Administrators: Dr. Gwendolyn Purcell, Director
Joy Scott, Principal
Mary Travers, Principal
Wayne Williams, School Dean
Dempuls Glabog, Primary Chair
Edmalia Constanza, Administrative Resource Teacher
