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Orangeburg Consolidated School District 5 is looking for ways to encourage healthy lifestyles, thanks to new rules in the federal school lunch program.

Orangeburg Consolidated School District 5’s trustee board on Tuesday gave first reading to a wellness policy that promotes good nutrition and physical activity among students and employees.

The policy’s goal is “to provide an environment that enhances learning and development of lifelong wellness practices for students and district staff.”

“The premise is to focus on wellness, which includes changes in eating habits,” said W. Donnie Boland, assistant superintendent for financial services.

The wellness policy establishes the general philosophy for the district. School officials will later develop the specifics of a program to encourage children to eat the right foods and exercise.

The policy calls for the district to “teach, encourage, model and support healthy eating by students.”

“How are we going to model to our children what we would like for them to do?” Trustee Susan Gleaton asked Boland.

“That means you incorporate healthy eating habits into your own lifestyle. You don’t eat Snickers bars and stuff like that in front of the children,” Boland replied.

You can hide the junk food but “what’s going to hide the results?” Gleaton asked.

“We’re going to have to get our staff on board before we just pass a blanket policy that says we’re going to model,” Gleaton said.

“What we’re trying to change here is the mind-set” and emphasize the importance of health and wellness, Boland said.

“There are a lot of ways we can approach this,” he continued. “Some districts have gone so far as to invite weight-loss consultants to help the staff become healthier and model a healthier lifestyle.”

“Are we going to remove all soft drinks and candy?” Gleaton asked.

“What we’ll do is write regulations to accompany the policy, and foods that have a minimal nutritional value will be recommended to be discontinued from sale in all our schools. Sugary soft drinks is one of those,” Boland replied.

In an interview later, Boland said vending machines won’t disappear, they’ll just dispense different products.

“Instead of vending soft drinks, for instance, we may vend 100 percent juice drinks, low-fat milk, things of that nature, so you still have that revenue source but you do it in a healthy way,” he said.

The policy says “all foods and beverages made available in district schools, including vending, concessions, a la carte, school stores, parties and fund-raising” must be “consistent with current Dietary Guidelines for Americans and all food safety and security guidelines.”

Along with nutrition, the policy addresses physical activity.

The state Students Health and Fitness Act of 2005 requires that students have 150 minutes of physical activity each week.

“That 150 minutes doesn’t have to all be in P.E. class,” Boland said. “You can have five minutes of classroom activity where you jump up and down or something.”

“Are we planning to do that? Are we planning to have that five-minute time to make them jump up and down?” Gleaton asked. “Is that the only thing we have in mind?”

No, Boland replied, but because the requirement “will cut into instruction time. ... I think (teachers) are going to get real creative with this” and incorporate physical activity into instructional activities.

Every school district that wants to continue receiving federal money that subsidizes student breakfasts and lunches must implement a wellness policy by the start of the 2006-07 school year to comply with federal law, Boland said.

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