Escambia County Public Schools is reviewing its wellness initiatives and is looking for input from district staff members, as well as members of our community.
The need for a wellness policy comes from the knowledge that healthy children learn more easily and are therefore more likely to be successful in school. A wellness policy’s intent is to promote healthy choices, prevent childhood obesity and to combat the challenges children face if they have poor nutritional habits or not enough activity. With this in mind, Congress passed Public Law 108-265, which requires each school district participating in the National School Lunch Program and the National School Breakfast Program to maintain a local wellness policy.
The policy and procedures can be reviewed on the Food Services Department website under “Wellness Policy” or by clicking the following link: Wellness Policy page
In order to provide feedback, go to the survey on the Wellness Policy page or by clicking the following link: 23-24 Wellness Policy Feedback Form . The input will be beneficial in revising the policy for the 24-25 school year.
Links will also be available from the Escambia County Public School’s Facebook page, the School Food Services website, and the Escambia County Public School – Wellness and Health/Physical Education websites.
“While the input is being gathered by the Food Services Department, we work with a variety of school district specialists to ensure the policy covers all aspects of student wellness while on campus,” said Jaleena Davis. “We try our best to look at this program from a team perspective.”
The school district also maintains a School Health and Wellness Advisory Committee (SHWAC) chaired by Dr. Maureen Padden, as well as School Wellness Teams. “Members of this committee come from the District and community and cover a range of specialties and programs from health education, physical education, health services, nutrition services, counseling and psychological services, a healthy and safe school environment, as well as those familiar with health promotion for adult staff members and outreach to district families and the community,” Martha Hanna explained.
If an individual would like to be involved at the District level, they should contact Martha Hanna at 850-469-5456, or by email at mhanna@ecsdfl.us.
If a member of our community wants to get involved on a School Wellness Team, they are asked to contact Charmain Sutherland by calling her office 850-316-3962 or they can contact her by email at csutherland@ecsdfl.us.
As always, support from our community is greatly appreciated!