Our Wellness Committee will meet at the Board of Education at 3:00 PM on: September 26 and November 28, 2023, January 30, March 26, and May 21, 2024. If you're a parent, staff or community member or student interested in joining us, please contact kate.murphy@naugatuck.k12.ct.us for more information.
LSWP Triennial Assessment Summary 06-2022
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) in public schools, requires a triennial assessment of our Local School Wellness Policy. The Naugatuck Public Schools’ (NPS) wellness policy can be found on our Policy Website and was developed to support student and staff health and well-being.
Our Wellness Committee, composed of stakeholders in the Naugatuck community, has performed an assessment of our policy, using the WellSAT, which is a quantitative assessment tool developed by the University of Connecticut’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. The goal of the assessment is to compare Naugatuck’s policy to a model policy, identifying our strengths, our areas for growth and our plans to improve our wellness policy. The evaluation examines these components of our policy:
- Standards for USDA Child Nutrition Programs and School Meals
- Nutrition Standards for Competitive and Other Foods and Beverages
- Physical Education and Physical Activity
- Wellness Promotion and Marketing
- Implementation, Evaluation and Communication
Our Strengths:
Nutrition Education:
Our policy includes goals for nutrition education that are designed to promote student wellness, such as the nutrition curriculum beginning in Grade 5 and continuing through Grade 10.
Standards for USDA Child Nutrition Programs and School Meals:
Our school foodservice assures compliance with USDA nutrition standards for all reimbursable school meals, and we ensure that all students have access to drinking water during meal times, either in the cafeterias or immediately adjacent. NPS follows all federal and state guidelines on sharing of free/reduced lunch information on students.
Nutrition Standards for Competitive and Other Foods and Beverages:
Our policy addresses compliance with USDA nutrition standards for all food and beverages sold to students during the school day, and is also aligned with state of Connecticut food and beverage standards. Connecticut Smart Snacks guidelines are followed regarding food and beverages sold a la carte, in vending machines, school stores and during fundraisers.
Physical Education and Physical Activity:
Our district has a written physical education curriculum for grades K-12. Each grade level is aligned with national and /or state physical education standards, including addressing qualifications for physical education teachers, and promoting a physically active lifestyle. Our policy also addresses recess for all elementary school students. NPS utilizes the Connecticut Coordinator of Health and PE through the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) for support on professional development for our physical education teachers and our fitness test assessment data. Our Parent School Council has taken an active role in sponsoring programs to promote family health and wellness, including the “Miles in May” program run this year, in which families walked, hike and ran during May, keeping track of their progress.
Wellness Promotion and Marketing
Our policy addresses physical activity not being used as a punishment and not being withheld as a punishment for students. It restricts marketing on the school campus during the school day to only those foods and beverages that meet Smart Snack standards. It also specifically addresses marketing on school property and where food is purchased. Our SEL coach has started “Take Care of Yourselves Tuesday”, weekly emails for all staff with resources for stress relief, self care and fun activities. Our foodservice director has conducted online nutrition classes for families this year, which were a big success. We are working town wide with our community partners to provide information about sports and fitness opportunities for our students, families and staff. Teachers are doing movement breaks and using extra recess for rewards in their classroom management.
Implementation, Evaluation and Communication:
Our policy addresses the establishment and maintenance of an ongoing district wellness committee. It identifies the officials responsible for the implementation and compliance of the local wellness policy, addresses making the wellness policy available to the public, and how all relevant community stakeholders can participate in the periodic review and update of the policy.
Areas for Growth and Improvement:
Nutrition education is not part of their curriculum, but is being taught in Grades K-4. We are exploring ways to integrate it into the curriculum and are working towards making all disciplines cross curricular.
Our policy has eliminated food being used as a reward and we are working to provide more non food alternatives for teachers to provide as rewards.
We ensure that all foodservice staff receive annual training, and will be updating our policy to reflect that we follow all USDA professional standards.
Plan for Improvement:
Overall, our wellness policy compared favorably to the model policies in the WellSAT assessment tool. As we continue our work, we will:
- work to update the language in our policy to strengthen it and bring it further into compliance.
- Announce four Wellness Committee meeting dates in August, 2023 for the 2023-24 school year.
- Focus on reviewing the triennial assessment and making recommendations on updates needed. Once completed the updated policy will be submitted to the Naugatuck Board of Education for approval.
- Encourage the continued use of movement breaks districtwide.
- Work with after school clubs and programs and our community partners to provide alternatives for after school healthy food and beverages that meet nutrition standards.
- Work with Naugatuck’s street and police departments to identify and ensure safe routes to school to encourage families to walk to school.
- Appoint building ambassadors for each school to act as liaisons between their school communities and the wellness committee.
