BSD Student and Staff Wellness Services
COORDINATED SCHOOL HEALTH
COORDINATED SCHOOL HEALTH COMMITTEE
The Coordinated School Health Committee (CSHC), a.k.a. the Wellness Team, provides oversight for the District's Wellness Policy. The CSHC uses the Coordinated School Health Model (CSHM) to provide direction and program recommendations designed to support the intentions of the Wellness Policy. The CSHC meets monthly to work on a variety of programs. Currently, the CSHC is working on:
- Implementing the Coordinated School Health Model
- Drafting tools and processes for assessing School Wellness Policy site implementation
- Supporting school sites in implementing the Wellness Policy
The CSHC is open to all participants. If interested in joining the committee, please contact TBD.
BSD SCHOOL WELLNESS POLICY
BSD's Local School Wellness Policy (LSWP) first adopted by the School Board in 2010 (revised 2012, 2016, and most recently in 2018) provides guidance on issues related to student and staff wellness. The current policy (adopted August 2018) includes guidance on foods served or sold at school, physical activity and education, and health education.
COMMON QUESTIONS RELATED TO THE WELLNESS POLICY
ARE THE SCHOOL LUNCHES HEALTHY?
The school wellness policy mirrors the state and federal requirements for nutrient content of all foods served or sold through the school lunch program. The policy states "Meal programs must meet or exceed the nutrition recommendation of the United States Dietary Guidelines..." The US Guidelines can be found on the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service webpage. The District's current contracted food service provider, Chartwells, works within these guidelines to provide meals that are nutrient appropriate and that appeal to the broad tastes of our students. Quality of the foods served through the food service program is always receiving attention and efforts towards improvement.
WHAT FOODS CAN BE SOLD ON CAMPUS FOR FUNDRAISING?
Foods sold on campus during the school day outside of the school's Federal meal program (i.e., school lunch and snack program) are called competitive foods, regardless of who sells them (i.e., foodservice ala carte, student fundraising, PTA, vending machines, etc.). Competitive foods have State and Federal mandates that help define which foods can be sold by whom, and where and when they can be sold. "Sold" refers to foods purchased through any system (money, points, tickets, order forms, etc.) AND when the exchange occurs on campus during the school day. "Campus" refers to any area controlled by the school that students have access to; "school day" is defined from midnight until 30 minutes after school. Foods allowed for sale for fundraising events held during the school day and on campus must follow defined nutrient guidelines outlined in the District's School Wellness Policy (refer to Schools and Beverages Sold Outside the School Meal Program) and in the guidelines below:
- Elementary guidelines allow for four sales per school year and only one approved food item per sale after the lunch period has ended.
- Middle School Guidelines allow for daily sales of up to three approved foods per day by only one student organization so long as the food item(s) sold meet nutrient guidelines defined in the wellness policy (sorry, no cupcakes or doughnuts) and that are not being sold by the food service operations on that same day.
More information on Competitive Foods can be found on the CDE's Competitive Foods Webpage.
Elementary and Middle School Food Guidelines
CAN I BRING CUPCAKES AND SODA FOR SCHOOL PARTIES?
After first checking in with the classroom teacher on what foods they would like to have in their classroom, only one food item that does not meet the nutritional requirements specified in the BSD Wellness Policy may be served per event. So, if the teacher approves, you could bring either soda OR cupcakes, but not both, but even then these foods of no-nutritional-value are highly discouraged as they interfere with student and classroom wellbeing. Here is a list of health celebration food ideas.
List of Health Celebration Food Ideas
STUDENT HEALTH ASSESSMENTS
The BSD School District relies upon wellness data derived directly from students, staff, and families to guide program development. This multi-source referencing of the state of our student's and school's wellbeing drives better wellness program design and implementation. The two main assessments utilized by the wellness program are:
- California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) - this survey is conducted every year as part of the Tobacco Use Prevention Education program (TUPE) and provides a valuable insight into student connectedness to their school and their wellbeing as members of our community. Our TUPE program only requires we implement the CHKS every other year and only in 7th grade. However, the BSD administrators have decided that the CHKS data is valuable not only in program implementation, but helps inform the District's LCAP process, and thus implements the CHKS every year and in both 5th and 7th grades. The actual survey and questions can be reviewed on the WestEd Survey Download page and the full results reports can be accessed on the CDE's DataQuest website. In addition, the results can be queried by topic or health indicators using the sorting tools on kidsdata.org, or using the public dashboard on the WestEd results website.
- Physical Fitness Testing (PFT) - each year all 5th and 7th grade students are assessed for their physical fitness through the administration of the California Physical Fitness Test. Results for the District's PFT can be accessed either on the KidsData website or the CDE's DataQuest website.
MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
Counseling and Phycological Services
Crisis Hot Lines and Mental Health Support
LGBTQ Support (coming soon!)
WELLNESS ACTIVITIES GUIDES
CLASSROOM CELEBRATIONS
Food in the Classroom Policy: The Burlingame School District's Board of Trustees adopted the following classroom celebration (e.g., party foods) revision to its Local School Wellness Policy (linked below) on August 14, 2018.
The district believes that all foods provided in the classrooms should support the health curriculum and promote optimal health. The district acknowledges that certain types of foods can contribute to childhood obesity and also acknowledges safety concerns for students who may have food allergies. To ensure safety and inclusion for all students the following shall be followed: food treats are not allowed to be brought to school in celebration of children’s birthdays and alternative ways of celebrating these events are recommended; soda and sweetened beverages are not allowed; food for non-birthday classroom celebrations shall include no more than one sweet treat; no more than four celebrations per year that include food are allowed. Classroom celebrations shall be held either first thing in the morning by 9:00 a.m. for a healthy breakfast or held after the lunch period.
Middle school classroom celebrations are limited to one per trimester.
School staff shall encourage parents/guardians or other volunteers to support the District’s nutrition education program by considering nutritional quality when selecting any food or beverage which they may donate for occasional class parties and by limiting foods or beverages that do not meet nutritional standards to no more than one food or beverage per celebration. Annually, parent education materials including the District’s policy on celebratory foods and a guide on selecting celebratory foods compliant with the policy and celebratory non-food options, shall be included in all student registration packets and periodically throughout the year in other parent communications. Class parties or celebrations shall be held after the lunch period when possible.
Resources for healthy classroom celebrations:
HEALTHY FUNDRAISING CORNER
HEALTHY FUNDRAISING CORNER RESOURCES