Local School Wellness Policy

Pathways to College K8 Charter School (hereto referred as PTC or “The School”) is committed to the optimal development of every student. PTC believes that for students to have the opportunity to achieve personal, academic, developmental and social success, we need to create positive, safe and health-promoting learning environments at every level, in every setting, throughout the school year.

Research shows that two components, good nutrition and physical activity before, during and after the school day, are strongly correlated with positive student outcomes. For example, student participation in the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) School Breakfast Program is associated with higher grades and standardized test scores, lower absenteeism and better performance on cognitive tasks. Conversely, less-than-adequate consumption of specific foods including fruits, vegetables and dairy products, is associated with lower grades among students. In addition, students who are physically active through active transport to and from school, recess, physical activity breaks, high-quality physical education and extracurricular activities – do better academically. Finally, there is evidence that adequate hydration is associated with better cognitive performance.

This policy outlines PTC’s approach to ensuring environments and opportunities for all students to practice healthy eating and physical activity behaviors throughout the school day while minimizing commercial distractions. Specifically, this policy establishes goals and procedures to ensure that:

• PTC students have access to healthy foods throughout the school day—both through reimbursable school meals and other foods available throughout the school campus—in accordance with Federal and State Nutrition Standards;
• Students receive quality nutrition education that helps them develop lifelong healthy eating behaviors;
• Students have opportunities to be physically active before, during, and after school;
• PTC will engage in nutrition and physical activity promotion and other activities that promote student wellness;
• PTC staff are encouraged and supported to practice healthy nutrition and physical activity behaviors in and out of school;
• The community is engaged in supporting the work of the Local Education Agency (LEA) in creating continuity between school and other settings for students and staff to practice lifelong healthy habits; and
• PTC establishes and maintains an infrastructure for management, oversight, implementation, communication about, and monitoring of the policy and its established goals and objectives.