How to Form a School Wellness Advisory Group
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The document provides guidance on forming a school wellness advisory group, which is required to assess needs and develop or revise wellness policies for schools. It outlines requirements for the advisory group's composition and responsibilities, and offers best practices for starting the group, encouraging participation, and maintaining successful meetings. Resources are also listed to help with advisory group guidelines, effective board creation, engagement, and collaborative leadership structures.
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How to Form a School Wellness Advisory Group
- 1. How to Form a School Wellness Advisory Group January 22nd, 2015 Nevada Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Division Cindy Rainsdon, RD,LD
- 2. POLL: HAVE YOU ALREADY FORMED YOUR SCHOOL WELLNESS ADVISORY GROUP?
- 3. What Are the Requirements? • Each school district/school must establish a diverse team that will assess the needs and develop a policy that helps the school/district work toward improved health and wellness outcomes for students • The Advisory group must meet at least twice a year to review and update their LSWP • You will be required to report information on how individuals can involved with the advisory group
- 4. Who is responsible for leading the Advisory Group? • School Wellness Coordinators • What makes a good School Wellness Coordinator? • Fully understands the requirements • Can facilitate the development of implementation of the policy • Excellent communication skills • ? Time Requirement
- 5. What’s the Role of the Advisory Group? • The advisory group will need to review the current School Wellness Policy • Assess the School district/schools individual needs • Revise/Develop a policy that meets the minimum state school wellness requirements • Support school wellness and encourage school/community events that help your school/district work toward improved health and wellness outcomes for schoolchildren
- 6. How Do I Start An Advisory Group? • Solicit school and community members who have an interest in student or school environment health and wellness to participate • Sample letter in Best Practices manual
- 7. Who Should Be Included? • Parents • Students • School Food Service Personnel • PE teachers • School Health Professionals • School Board Members • School Administrators • General Public (Local Pediatrician, Registered Dietitian, Public Health Professional, Health and Human Services employees, WIC, etc)
- 8. How Often Will We Need to Meet? • School Wellness Advisory Groups are required to meet at least 2x/year • More frequent meetings may need to occur initially • Dependent on ongoing community/school activities
- 9. How to encourage strong participation? • Make Everyone Feel Welcome and Valued • Use Social Media, Existing Email Lists, Automated Voice Messages • Send Reminders about meetings ahead of time
- 10. POLL: HAVE YOU READ THE BEST PRACTICE MANUAL?
- 11. How to Maintain a Cohesive and Successful Group….. • Schedule and Prepare Meetings Well in Advance • Prepare a Structured Agenda • Respect Group Members Contributions • Set Clear Expectations • Keep Members Informed • Consider Alternative Methods of Sharing Ideas • Group emails, Blogs, Facebook, Conference calls, Online Documents
- 12. What Resources Are Available to Help? • Nevada’s School Wellness Policy, Best Practices Manual http://nutrition.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/nutritionnvgov/Content/Programs/Wellness_doc uments/SWP%20Best%20Practices%20Manual%20-11%2007%2014.pdf • Advisory Board Guidelines http://dowelldogood.net/?p=663 • Tips for Creating an Effective Advisory Board http://www.stengelsolutions.com/tips19.htm • Engaging All Leaders http://www.communityschools.org/assets/1/AssetManager/CommunityAndFamilyEng agement.pdf • Collaborative Leadership Structure http://www.communityschools.org/assets/1/AssetManager/collaborative%20leadershi p.pdf
- 13. Questions?
Editor's Notes
- Good Afternoon! I am Cindy Rainsdon, a registered dietitian with the Nevada Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Division. Everyone is currently in “listen only” mode. If you have a question during the webinar, you can jot it down to ask at the end or you can type it in the message box in your GoToWebinar window. Today we will be talking about How to Form a School Wellness Advisory Group.
- To get us started I would like to have everyone answer this poll question. “Have you already formed your school wellness advisory group?”
- Each school district or school must establish a diverse team of stakeholders to assess the school district or schools individual needs and develop a wellness policy that meets the operational realities of the school or district and works to improve health and wellness outcomes for the students. The school wellness advisory group must meet a minimum of two times a year to review and update the LSWP, as the school or districts needs change, goals are met, new information emerges, and the annual review is completed. Information on how individuals and the public can get involved in the school wellness advisory group must be reported on the annual review and will be made publically available.
- Each school district and/or school is required to have one or more people designated to be the school wellness leadership, we have used the term school wellness coordinator to describe this position. We have been asked what makes a good school wellness coordinator. The coordinator should be someone who fully understands the LSWP requirements, who can facilitate the development and implementation of the LSWP, and who has the authority and responsibility to ensure that each school complies with the policy. Because of the variety and background of persons required to be included in the school wellness advisory group, the coordinator should have excellent communication skills and be able to delegate tasks. We would like to make it clear that this position should not require a large time commitment from the coordinator, but the time requirement will vary between schools and districts dependent on ongoing events and activities.
- The advisory group will need to review the current School Wellness Policy. Your school or district policy may be the same one that has been in effect since 2006 and your specific needs may have changed. Advisory group members should assess the current School district/schools needs and discuss with school or district administration or leadership as appropriate. Some school boards may need to approve any changes to the school wellness policy. Advisory groups should then Revise or develop a policy that meets the minimum state school wellness requirements. Remember that school districts and schools can make their school wellness policies more restrictive than the state school wellness policy. Finally, it is important for the advisory group to Support school wellness and encourage school/community events that help your school/district work toward improved health and wellness outcomes for schoolchildren. There may be ongoing events or activities that the advisory group members can become involved in, or the advisory group may have the opportunity to plan new events or activities for your school community.
- Each school district or school is required to include a plan that identifies representatives from a array of groups that have an interest in school wellness. The first step in forming an advisory group is to determine any member of the community that would be beneficial for achieving a wide range of opinions and depth of knowledge. The goal should be to form a plan to contact all of these groups to solicit their participation in the advisory group. In Nevada’s SWP BPM we have a sample letter that can be used to contact potential group members.
- Who Should be Included? Community involvement includes allowing parents, students, teachers, school health professionals, representatives of the school food program staff, and the general public to participate in the development, implementation and periodic review of the LSWP. The Goal is to establish a diverse school wellness team. Each of these groups may have local associations or chapters that could provide information on members that may be interested in participating.