School Health & Wellness In Arkansas Overview of Act 1220; Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act; and the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 Anna Haver, MCHES Act 1220 Coordinator July, 2017

The Problem “Obesity is not primarily a medical problem, rather more a public health problem. It cannot be controlled by primarily a medical approach as it is significantly associated with poverty, lower education, food insecurity, and associated intake of high volumes of energy dense, low cost foods.” – Patrick Casey MD Pediatric obesity is a public health epidemic with serious associated childhood and adult morbidity and high costs. The medical approach may help some motivated individuals / families. Environmental change is also needed. Children are increasingly less active – at home and at school. There are communities in our state that do not have access to a full service grocery store but surrounded by an abundance of fast food restaurants and convenience stores. Many new schools are being built on the outskirts of town where more property is available so they have room to expand. This results in less students walking or biking to school. Families don’t cook at home as often…for various reasons – they don’t know how to prepare healthy meals, kids are involved in an abundance of activities, parents have more than one job to make ends meat… The ultimate “cure” of this epidemic will require involvement, creativity, and collaboration of all health and education professionals, civic and business leaders, and policy makers. 11/12/2018

Problems of Childhood Obesity Diabetes High blood pressure Heart disease Gallstones Asthma Sleep disorders In Arkansas, 39% of our students measured overweight or obese in school year 2015-16. 11/12/2018

Purpose of Act 1220 An act to create a child health advisory committee; To coordinate statewide efforts to combat childhood obesity and related illnesses; To improve the health of the next generation of Arkansans. Act 1220 was passed by the 84th General Assembly (2003). The bill was sponsored by Representatives Bradford, Biggs, Cleveland, Milligan, and Senators Bisbee and Argue. Arkansas was the first state in the country to address the epidemic of childhood obesity in this manner. The bill was a result of 11/12/2018

Components of Act 1220 Remove elementary school students access to vending machines offering food and beverages and regulate access for secondary students. Develop recommendations to ensure that nutrition and physical activity standards are implemented to provide students with the skills, opportunities and encouragement to adopt healthy lifestyles. There were 6 main components of Act 1220. The Child Health Advisory Committee, created by the act was tasked with developing the nutrition and physical activity recommendations to be provided to ADE. The committee is made up of representatives from ADH, ADE, Cooperative Extension, AR Academy of Family Practice Physicians, AR Dietetic Association, Advocates for Children and Families, School Food Service Association, School Nurses Association, AR Association of Educational Administrators and others. You can find out more about CHAC on the ADH website. 11/12/2018

Components Continued Require schools to include as part of the annual report to parents and the community the amounts and sources of funds received from competitive food and beverage contracts. Require schools to include as part of each student’s health report to parents an annual body mass index (BMI) percentile. One of the goals of Act 1220 was to greatly reduce or eliminate sugar sweetened beverages on school campuses. Many school districts in the state had large contracts with companies such as Pepsi and Coca Cola. No one knew exactly how much money these companies were giving schools until this was required to be reported. Schools were encouraged to look for alternative funding sources to those contracts. The BMI assessment requirement was originally to be completed for all students in all grades. Act 201 of 2007, this was changed. The assessments are now completed for grades K,2,4,6,8, and 10. The 2007 legislation also provided the ability for parents to opt out of BMI assessment for their student by providing written notice to the school. 11/12/2018

Components Continued Require schools to assemble a Nutrition and Physical Activity Committee Require goals and objectives for nutrition and physical activity be incorporated into the annual school planning and reporting process - (ACSIP Wellness Priority) Completion of the School Health Index is included in the ADE Rules and Regs in order to assist schools with developing the goals and objectives for the Wellness Priority of ACSIP (AR Consolidated School Improvement Plan). 11/12/2018

Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 Each local educational agency participating in a program authorized by the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq) or the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq) shall establish a local school wellness policy by School Year 2006. Signed into law by President Bush on June 30, 2004. The Act brings about many improvements in the child nutrition programs by expanding the availability of nutritious meals and snacks to more children in school, in outside school hours programs, and in childcare; and improving the quality of food in schools. AR was already ahead of the game on the requirement to develop a wellness policy, thanks to Act 1220 and the nutrition standards that ADE already had in place for school meals. 11/12/2018

Wellness Policy Requirements Include goals for nutrition education, physical activity, and other school-based activities that are designed to promote student wellness. Include nutrition guidelines for all foods available on the school campus during the school day with the intent of promoting student health and reducing childhood obesity. Goal One – could include grade appropriate nutrition education in the health education program, encouragement of participation in extra curricular or intramural sports programs, foods/beverages not being used as rewards Goal Two – elimination of elementary student access to vending machines, food only being sold in the cafeteria, eliminating extra servings of items such as cookies, ice cream, or french fries. 11/12/2018

Wellness Policy Requirements Provide assurance that guidelines for reimbursable school meals not be less restrictive than regulations issued by Secretary of Agriculture Establish a plan for measuring implementation of wellness policy Involve parents, students, representatives of school food authority, school board, school administrators, and the public Goal Three - AR nutrition standards for reimbursable meals and a la’carte foods served in the cafeteria were more restrictive than the USDA nutrition standards. But it could include requirements on portion sizes, amount of fat allowed, etc.. Goal Four – Could be the use of the School Health Index to assess each school campus and compare those to the standards and district policy. This is accomplished through the ACSIP Wellness Priority in AR Goal Five – These were the same people that AR required to be part of the nutrition and physical activity advisory committees established through Act 1220. 11/12/2018

Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act Strengthens school wellness policies by emphasizing ongoing implementation and assessment Requires schools to designate a school official to monitor compliance with wellness policy Include goals for nutrition and physical education 2010. Final rules issued in July 2016. Wellness policy requirements effective June 30, 2017. This basically expanded on the requirements of the Child Nutrition and WIC reauthorization act of 2004. Wellness policy checklist is available from Child Nutrition to assist schools in reviewing and updating policies to be compliant with state and federal standards. The goals for nutrition and physical activity are what our schools are identifying in their Health & Wellness Priority in Indistar. 11/12/2018

HHFKA Continued Requires annual notification to the public of wellness policy content Requires schools to measure and make available to the public an assessment of the wellness policy every three years Establish guidelines for food and beverage marketing Review of wellness policy and public notification is required annually and a triennial review of implementation is required. Food and beverage marketing should be addressed in the district wellness policy and should be completed by June 30, 2017. 11/12/2018

Wellness Committee Responsibilities Assist with implementation of nutrition and physical activity standards developed by the committee with approval from Department of Education and State Board of Health Integrate nutrition and physical activity in the overall curriculum Ensure that professional development for staff includes nutrition and physical activity issues The Nutrition and Physical Activity Rules and Regulations provided to schools by ADE specifically list the responsibilities of school wellness committees. I’ve listed these in the next few slides and we’ll quickly cover them, but in a nutshell, the wellness committees have been tasked with carrying-out and/or ensuring districts comply with all the requirements of all these pieces of legislation 11/12/2018

Wellness Committee Responsibilities Ensure that students receive nutrition education and engage in healthy levels of vigorous physical activity Improve the quality of physical education curricula and increase training of physical education teachers Enforce existing physical education requirements 11/12/2018

Wellness Committee Responsibilities Pursue vending contracts that both encourage healthy eating by students and reduce school dependence on profits from the sale of foods with minimum nutritional value Annually assess schools using the School Health Index and compile results to be included in ACSIP Maintain and update annually a written list of recommended locally available healthier options for food and beverage vending contracts 11/12/2018

Wellness Committee Responsibilities Encourage use of non-food alternatives as fund-raisers Report as part of the annual report to parents and the community the amount of funds received and expenditures made from competitive food and beverage contracts Provide recommendations to the school district concerning menus and other foods sold in the school cafeteria 11/12/2018

Who Must Be Involved? School Board School Administrator Food Service Authority Teacher Organization(s) Community Members – business, service organization Professional groups such as nurses and counselors Parents Students As specified by Act 1220 11/12/2018

Others To Include Hospitals/clinics Business/Industry Churches/synagogues Civic and service organizations Colleges/universities Social service agencies Youth groups Other interested individuals CHNS/CHPS 11/12/2018

Questions Anna Haver Act 1220 Coordinator Phone: (501) 682-3733 Email: anna.haver@arkansas.gov 11/12/2018