PROCEEDINGS

Download a PDF of these proceedings: Partnership School Nutrition Learning Forum

Presentations

Mimi Stamer, Director of School Health Services, Needham Public Schools
Changing School Culture in Light of the New State Regulations

In 2010 Massachusetts passed the Act Relative to School Nutrition, which requires standards to be set for competitive foods and beverages sold or provided in public schools during the school day.  The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has passed regulations that will become effective August 1, 2012.  Those have been published in Healthy Students, Healthy Schools: Guidance for Implementing the Massachusetts School Nutrition Standards for Competitive Foods and Beverages.  
(Click here for helpful information and to download a PDF or Word version of that guide: http://www.mass.gov/dph/healthierschools. The link to the guidelines is in paragraph 3.)

Needham Public Schools has found it helpful to consider change theory.  They consulted William Bridges' change theory, which recommends connecting people to the change.

All the stakeholders, including parents, should be brought together.  Old systems need to be evaluated and dismantled as needed - a balance of old and new is most effective.  Cultural norms and values must be considered as well as district norms and values to see where realignment is needed.  It is important to have the conversation about where wellness fits into the district.  It is also important to recognize that while parents and families have primary responsibility, the school and community play an important supporting role.  School Wellness Committees and Health Advisory Committees play an important role.

Recommendations given included:

• Focus more on what is being promoted, not just what is being eliminated.
• Address fundraising.
• Consider brain-fueling issues and scheduling such as scheduling test-taking before lunch.
• Try to include nutrition education in many classes.

It is essential that districts come to a consensus on wellness policy and commit to it at all levels to increase success.

Tom Burke, Resident District Manager, Chartwells, Brockton Public Schools
Creating Partnerships

Tom Burke agreed that it is important to get the word out that change is coming.  This can be done through parent meetings and other school and community events.  For example, a table at a health fair can include fresh fruit and vegetables, videos, and coloring books.

Brockton has several successful partnerships, including with UMass Extension.  This year cooking demonstrations were done in every school for parents.  Simple menus with simple items were used to help breakdown any preconceptions that healthy eating is difficult or expensive.  Useful information such as comparing the prices of hamburger and chicken shows that healthy eating doesn't have to be expensive.

Other suggestions given were:

• Having International Day, which gives students different flavors to enjoy.
• Including fresh fruit and vegetables at open houses.
• Offering cook-to-order food to show that healthy food tastes good.
• Giving out healthy snacks on Walk on Wednesdays, when students walk to school instead of taking buses.

Community partnerships can support schools in their need to give students healthy, tasty, and affordable options and to educate parents about affordable healthy foods.

Patricia Casey, District Food Service Director, Sandwich Public Schools
Educating Students and Parents

Educating parents, students, and staff on nutritional values is essential to instituting changes successfully.  Staff should be informed at the beginning of the school year; then parents and students should be involved.  Changing their perceptions is necessary for the district's changes to be accepted.

In these hard financial times, often health classes have to be cut.  Schools need more ways to educate students and parents.

Some suggestions offered were:

• Including health and nutrition education in disciplines such as science.
• Applying for grants, which requires that partnership be in place.
• Doing taste testing with students and getting their feedback.
• Having a chef cook healthy food at an open house.
• Offering food prepared from Rachel Ray recipes because she is well known, and explaining why her recipes are healthy.
• Asking a group of students such as the student council what they liked and didn't like about last week's menu.
• Awarding health graduation certificates to younger students.
• Giving incentives such as a ticket to a raffle for a free (donated) movie pass for eating a healthy meal.
• Growing a garden.
• Starting a cooking club.
• Having students bring in family recipes and showing how they can be altered to be more nutritional.
• Doing a survey of parents to find out what information they want.

It is essential that schools get the word out and fund healthy eating.

Jake Olivera, Ludlow School Committee, State Nutrition Committee, Massachusetts Association of School Boards
Influencing School Committee Members through Superintendent Interaction

Roles and responsibilities of school committees have changed.  In addition to appointing and reviewing the superintendent and to overseeing the budget, school committees are responsible for setting policy for the district.  So it is very important that they be involved in policy changes from the beginning.

Recommendations include:

• Having school committee members on school wellness advisory committees.
• Presenting policy issues at school committee meetings before a vote is taken to give them the opportunity to ask questions, preferably over a few meetings, before voting.
• Superintendents discussing nutrition at their Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents regional meetings.

School committee members need information not only to make informed decisions, but also to defend those to decisions to parents and the community.

Discussion

Nutrition Education

Peer education is important and effective.  Students at younger ages are starting to ask questions about food:  What makes a healthy item healthy?  Older students who are taking more responsibility for their health can help educate younger students.  Youth Advisory Councils can be formed to have students meet with food service staff to the benefit of both - the staff learns what the students want and the students are educated to take the message to other students.

Having open communication with students and reaching them one-on-one is essential for breaking down any barriers for reluctant students or parents.

Wellness Committees

State Standards for School Wellness Committees are published in Massachusetts Regulation 105CMR215.  (Click here to download a PDF of that regulation: http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/docs/dph/regs/105cmr215-school-wellness.pdf.)

In Needham, the Wellness Committee is led by an Advisory Committee.  The administrator of each building has to enforce the policies.

A Partnership learning forum on creating school wellness committees will be scheduled soon.

Participants on January 30, 2012

Key speakers

1. Mimi Stamer, Director of School Health Services, Needham Public Schools
2. Tom Burke, Resident District Manager, Chartwells, Brockton Public Schools
3. Patricia Casey, District Food Service Director, Sandwich Public Schools
4. Jake Olivera, Ludlow School Committee, State Nutrition Committee, MASC Board

School representatives

1. Ayer Shirley Regional School District - Mary Beth Hamel, Assistant Superintendent in Support of Teaching & Learning
2. Dudley-Charlton Regional School District - Sean Gilrein, Superintendent
3. Gardner Public Schools - Cathy Goguen, Business Administrator
4. Nashoba Regional School District - Pat Trahman, Coordinator of Health, Guidance and Wellness
5. Palmer Public Schools - Susan Bailey, Food Services Director
6. Somerville Public Schools - Susana Morgan, Coordinator of Grants and Information; Jeanne Irwin, Director of Food and Nutrition Services; Charlotte Stephenson, Nutrition Outreach Coordinator
7. Taunton Public Schools - John Cabral, Assistant Superintendent

Planning committee members

1. Wendy Gage, Health Care Coordinator, Ludlow Public Schools
2. Karen Jarvis-Vance, Director of Health Services, Health Education and Safety, Northampton Public Schools
3. Carilyn Rains, School Nurse Leader, Sandwich Public Schools
4. Patricia Small, School Nurse Leader, Stoughton Public Schools
5. Chris Nordstrom, Program Coordinator - Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity Program, MA Department of Public Health
6. Laura York, Director, Coordinated School Health Program, MA Department of Public Health
7. Julianna Valcour, School Nutrition Policy Consultant, MA Department of Public Health

Facilitator

• Peggy Kocoras, Coordinator, Partnership for a Heart-Healthy, Stroke-Free Massachusetts