April 2006 The Child Nutrition Promotion and School Lunch Protection Act was introduced in Congress. The bill calls on USDA to update its nutrition standards for foods sold outside of the school meal programs from vending machines, school stores, and a la carte in the cafeteria. More than 85 organizations, including the Society for Nutrition Education, FRAC, and the School Nutrition Association, support the bill (see http://www.cspinet.org/new/pdf/nana_coalition.pdf for a list of supporters).

It is a bipartisan bill and was introduced in both the House and Senate. You can find a copy of the bill at http://www.cspinet.org/new/pdf/school_foods_bill.pdf. There is a NYT story describing the bill at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/06/education/06lunch.html and more background on the bill at http://www.cspinet.org/nutritionpolicy/fedschoolfoods.pdf.

New Legislation On Nutrition and Physical Activity creates opportunity for wellness in Collier County Schools
Section 204 of Public Law 108-265 Child Nutrition an dWIC Reauthorization Act of 2004

All schools must implement at wellness plan by the end of June 2006. The first reading of Collier Counties Wellness Plan went in front of the board February 2nd 2006. Current draft. The coalition commented on the plan, stating that this plan presents an opportunity to be a model for wellness. Kelly Robinson passed out copies of the model wellness plan and share some discrepancies. Discrepancies include: no daily recess, no daily p.e., no safe routes to school, no sitting limits, no use of facilites for activity outside of school hours, and no community involvement in a plan for staff wellness.  The coalition will update this website on the next reading

"Schools have more influence on the lives of young people than any other social institution except the family and they provide a setting in which friendship networks develop, socialization occurs, and norms that govern behavior are developed and reinforced."

                            - Healthy People 2010

SB 2372 - Promotes Physical Activity in Florida's Youth
This legislation directs the Department of Health to partner with the Department of Education, local communities, school districts and other entities to encourage Florida schools to promote activities during and after school to help students meet a minimum goal of 60 minutes of activity per day. It also directs the Departments of Health and Education to develop a program that recognizes schools whose students demonstrate excellent physical fitness or fitness improvement. This legislation was approved by Governor Bush and became effective July 1, 2004.


SB 354 - Promotes Physical Education in Florida's Schools
This legislation directs the Department of Education to conduct a study to determine the status of physical education instruction in public schools and to develop recommendations for changes to the state's physical education programs. All school districts are required to adopt written physical education policies by December 1, 2004. This legislation was approved by Governor Bush and became effective upon becoming law.

 

Nutrition Education

The bill authorizes a new school nutrition education infrastructure component, creating state-level “Team Nutrition Networks.” It authorizes grants to states to promote healthy eating and physical activity in schools. States receiving funding through this program are required to appoint state-level coordinators to facilitate nutrition education within and across schools within their state. While this authorizing language is a good start, the program will need to be funded through the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee.

Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program

The bill provides $9 million in mandatory funding for the Fruit and Vegetable Program, which provides free fruit and vegetable snacks to students in schools. The bill enables the program to continue in the four states and one Indian reservation already participating and it provides funding for four additional states and two additional Indian reservations to participate in the program.
 

Milk

The bill requires schools to offer fluid milk in a variety of fat contents and allows them to offer lactose-free milk and soy milk if a student’s parent, guardian, or physician sends a note requesting it. The milk provision is a modest improvement over the existing law that was a de facto requirement that schools serve whole milk. However, Collier County Schools under the direction of Sheila Sheridan offers fat free milk!

Junk Food in Schools (Competitive Foods)
 

The sale of low-nutrition foods outside of the school meal programs was the central point of heated debate in both the House and Senate Committee mark ups of the child nutrition bill, and it was one of the final issues to be resolved in the bill negotiations between the House and Senate.  During the reauthorization process, a number of committed champions for removing junk food from schools were cultivated and emerged in the House and Senate (including Reps Woolsey, Ryan, and Miller). One key champion is Senator Tom Harkin, who offered an amendment on junk food in schools in the Agriculture Committee mark up of the bill and planned to offer it on the Senate floor as well. He was able to secure a deal in which two out of three of the amendment’s provisions were included in the final child nutrition bill, so he chose to not offer his amendment on the Senate floor.
 

One component of the Harkin amendment included in the bill requires each local educational agency participating in the school meal programs to develop a local school wellness policy by the summer of 2006. The local school wellness policies should include goals for nutrition education, physical activity, nutrition guidelines for all foods sold on school campus during the school day, and a plan for measuring implementation of the wellness policy. Parents, students, school food authorities, school boards, school administrators, and the public are all to be involved in developing the local school wellness policies. The other part of the Harkin amendment included in the bill is $4 million for the USDA to work with local education agencies on establishing healthy school nutrition environments, reducing childhood obesity, and preventing chronic disease related to diet.