School Health Guidelines
to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity

A: Strategies include:

• Gather data and information to determine the nutrition and physical activity needs of school staff members and assess the availability of existing school employee wellness activities and resources.
• Encourage administrative support for and staff involvement in school employee wellness.
• Develop, implement, and evaluate healthy eating and physical activity programs for all school employees.

A: Examples of services for school employees include individual and group behavior counseling, access to health education lectures, and point-of-decision prompts that encourage the use of stairwells.

A: Schools can assess staff needs and then tailor existing employee wellness activities to meet these needs. Also, employees can plan programs on nutrition and physical activity topics of interest. Specialized programs will increase the likelihood of staff participation. School employees can be asked what they need and would like to have related to nutrition and physical activity.

A: Activities that can be incorporated into school employee wellness programs to influence healthy behaviors may include providing health education through lectures and newsletters, and promoting healthy behavior changes through counseling, skill-building, or rewards, such as an employee walking club or healthy cooking classes.

A: Some environmental changes schools can make include increasing access to healthy foods in the vending machines or adding a walking path to school grounds.