Wellness
Local Wellness Policy
The Local Wellness Policy (LWP) is intended to guide a school district's efforts to establish a school environment that promotes students' health, well-being, and ability to learn. All schools that participate in USDA's Child Nutrition Programs are required to have a written wellness policy in addition to:
- Goals for nutrition promotion and education, physical activity, and other school-based activities that promote wellness
- Nutrition standards and guidelines for all foods served and sold, served, and marketed to students
- Establish a Local Wellness Policy Committee to oversee implementation at the school level
- Assess compliance with the LWP requirements on a triennial basis
Creighton Local Wellness Policy
Local Wellness Policy Committee
The purpose of this committee is to contribute to academic success by creating a healthy school environment. The committee is currently working on the following objectives:
- Create awareness about the federally required LWP
- Develop best practices for implementation of the policy at the school level
- Build connections within the organization in regards to the wellness culture
- Strengthen partnerships amongst all stakeholders
All stakeholders are welcome to participate in this committee. This includes parents, students, members of the Child Nutrition & Wellness Department, teachers of physical education, school health professionals, the school board, and school administrators. Participants are responsible for communicating best practices at the site level, being a resource for implementation of the policy, developing best practices to improve student wellness, and assisting with the triennial evaluation criteria. If you are interested in participating, please email Britni OConnell at boconnell@creightonschools.org.
Triennial Assessment
An assessment must be conducted at least once every three years. This was most recently completed during the 2023-2024 school year. Details regarding the results of the assessment can be found in the documents below:
- Food not intended for consumption on campus during the school day (i.e. cookie dough)
- Afterschool or weekend activities
The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) does allow for exempt fundraisers. Exempt fundraisers do not need to meet Smart Snack nutrition guidelines however, they must be infrequent and submitted to ADE. Regulations state that no exempted fundraiser foods or beverages may be sold in competition with school meals in the food service area during meal service.
During the 2023-2024 school year, the Local Wellness Policy Committee established the following recommendations for fundraisers and exemptions, to be implemented during the 2024-2025 school year:
- Food-based fundraisers should prioritize items that are Smart Snack compliant as there are no limitations for their approval.
- A list of compliant competitive food items that can be purchased from the Child Nutrition Department, Frys, & Costco is available. English Spanish
- Individual schools should utilize no more than 10 fundraising exemptions per school year. This allows sites the flexibility to determine when it is best fit to use their exemptions while maintaining the requirement that exempt fundraisers must be infrequent. The maximum allowable length of a fundraiser is 1 week in duration.
- The survey link from ADE for exemptions should be submitted by office managers, principals, or APs as they are currently involved in overseeing the fundraisers on their respective campuses. This responsibility also provides oversight that different fundraising organizations on each campus are equitably allowed exemptions.
- Non-food based fundraisers are encouraged. Checkout these ideas.