The following guest blog describes how one state education department used a USDA Team Nutrition grant to develop training to help schools implement programs that promote student wellness and to meet updated meal standards.
By Heather Hauswirth, RD, Program Specialist, Office of School Nutrition, Colorado Department of Education
In September 2014, our office, the Colorado Department of Education Office of School Nutrition, was awarded a Team Nutrition Training Grant from the USDA Food and Nutrition Service to implement statewide school wellness training.
Local educational agencies (LEAs) that participate in the National School Lunch Program or other federal child nutrition programs are required to establish school wellness policies for all schools under their jurisdiction. These policies are an important tool for parents, LEAs and school districts in promoting student wellness, preventing and reducing childhood obesity, and ensuring that school meal nutrition guidelines meet the minimum federal school meal standards.
School wellness has always been a priority for Colorado and for our office, and we wanted to expand our training efforts and incorporate recent regulations, such as “smart snacks” requirements. We did this by collaborating with the Colorado Education Initiative (CEI), a statewide nonprofit organization, to develop a training curriculum that addressed the needs of all Colorado schools. The training built on the wellness activities CEI had conducted and incorporated feedback from a statewide needs assessment.
The training addressed a number of topics, including:
- The nuts and bolts of the federal regulations;
- The updated criteria for the HealthierUS School Challenge: Smarter Lunchroom (HUSSC: SL) awards (a voluntary certification initiative from USDA); and
- Ways to use “smarter lunchroom” strategies in Colorado school cafeterias
Our aim was to ensure that all Colorado schools were meeting the federal requirements and encouraging schools to apply for the HUSSC: SL awards.
In March and April 2015, we trained 111 participants, including school food service personnel, school health professionals, school administrators, physical education teachers, and parents.
The feedback we received from participants was overwhelmingly positive:
- 96 percent of respondents had a better understanding of local school wellness policy requirements;
- 97 percent of respondents said they had learned strategies for implementing “smart snacks”;
- 98 percent of respondents agreed they had learned “smarter lunchroom” strategies;
- 83 percent of respondents agreed to implement “smarter lunchroom” strategies into their schools;
- 94 percent of respondents better understood the HUSSC: SL award criteria; and
- 66 percent of respondents planned to apply for one or more HUSSC: SL awards.
Additionally, in June and July 2015, we sent out a three-month follow-up survey to check in with participants and determine the impact of our trainings. We are currently analyzing these results, and plan to use the feedback to refine the training.
As for the 2015-2016 school year, we are knee-deep in planning and promoting four upcoming wellness trainings. Given the enormous success of our previous trainings, we anticipate these upcoming events will fill up quickly!
For more information on local school wellness policies and resources, check out the Team Nutrition Web site at: http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/local-school-wellness-policy
For more information on Colorado Team Nutrition activities, go to: http://www.cde.state.co.us/nutrition/nutritngrant
