Galesburg-Augusta Wellness Program

On June 30, 2004, Congress passed Section 204 of Public Law 108-265, of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004.  This law requires each local education agency participating in a program, authorized by the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C.1751 et seq.) or the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.), to establish a local school wellness policy by July 1, 2006. Galesburg-Augusta Community Schools is complying with this law and has since established a wellness committee, as well as a local wellness policy.

There is a critical link between nutrition and learning. Good nutrition feeds successful learning.

Healthy eating is an important life skill:

• It helps children grow, develop, and do well in school.
• It prevents childhood and adolescent health problems such as obesity, dental caries, and iron deficiency anemia.
• It lowers the risk of future chronic disease such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer and reduces potential health care costs.

From the Child Nutrition Department:

With all the articles in the papers concerning school lunches and the upcoming wellness policy I thought I would update the community of our progress in these areas.  We have been working on the changes each year.  Two years ago we eliminated snack cakes from our ala carte line at the High School.  Last year we stopped selling cookies and sell only baked chips.  Fresh fruit and vegetables have been incorporated more often into the menus.  We continue to look for ways to improve healthy eating.

The Wellness Committee has had several meetings.  We have been working on a school wide policy pertaining to Nutrition, Health and Physical Education and Activity.  As we have all seen in the news the American public have several health issues that need to be addressed.  Poor nutrition and lack of physical activity tends to lead the group, these two issues have attributed to the health concerns facing America.  With the time constraints, many families just don’t have the time to prepare a nutritious meal.  There is a growing body of evidence demonstrating that children who eat poorly or who engage in too little physical activity does not perform as well as they could academically, and that improvements in nutrition and physical activity can result in improvements in academic performance.  Fewer than one in four American children get 30 minutes or more of physical activity per day—and more than three in four get no more than 20 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week.  Childhood obesity and Type 2 diabetes are at an all time high.  The Wellness Committee is hoping to increase awareness and do our best to make the changes that will benefit the children of our community. 

-Denise Armstrong, G-A Food Service Director