Board hears wellness policy recommendations as school seeks higher breakfast participation

The district’s wellness committee presented the annual local school wellness policy review and recommendations, noting the committee met seven times this year and provided a set of draft changes for board consideration.

Committee members and administrators reported that breakfast participation remains low — about 9% on average — while lunch participation is roughly 48%. The committee recommended piloting or expanding a grab‑and‑go breakfast program at entry points to help increase participation and address barriers such as students arriving late to school.

Presenters said nutrition and health education topics have been partially folded into biology instruction, which slightly reduced the standalone health curriculum coverage. They recommended supporting biology teachers with targeted professional development so the district does not need to rely on outside vendors to deliver required health instruction under the California Healthy Youth Act.

Other recommendations included offering trauma‑informed and social‑emotional learning training at least every two years for staff, continuing to publicize employee benefits, and revising wellness policy language that previously required after‑school food sales to meet USDA competitive standards; staff said that provision was not feasible for all on‑campus vendors and recommended dropping it from the policy.

The wellness presentation also identified opportunities to increase family engagement around healthy habits and proposed continued use of the school health index self‑assessment tool to track implementation.