Healthy Guidelines for School Birthday Treats
The passage of our RUSD Wellness Policy by the Board of Trustees, and mandated by the State in 2006, promotes healthy eating habits, increased physical activity, and building awareness among children, parents, and district staff. Each year we take a step forward to completely implement our policy goals. In that spirit, please review the following guidelines as they are being implemented throughout the District.

To date, the District schools have primarily focused on the following areas of the policy for implementation:
1. Foods will not be used as a reward in classrooms (candy or sweets will not be used for student incentives or rewards)
2. The goal is to serve healthy foods at all school events, as mandated by law.
3. The 4 holiday classroom parties (Halloween, winter holiday, Valentine’s Day & end of year) can include ONE Sweet/Food. The Wellness Committee does NOT recommend abolishing all sweets for children at a holiday classroom party, but recommends limiting the amount of sugar served at a party. Parents have been incredibly creative in planning alternative activities, games, and crafts. School-wide celebrations will continue and healthy foods will continue to play a part in such events, such as 100th Day at Reed or the Sol Fest at Bel Aire.

We want all children to be recognized on their birthdays. What the Wellness Committee and PTA are recommending is a change in HOW each child is recognized. Traditionally, families send in or bring a birthday cake or cupcakes. It is important to understand that the 15 -20 such celebrations per class each year do not meet our Wellness Policy guidelines. Birthday Celebrations are observed as follows:

Your child will be honored on his/her special day
The principal and teachers will have “age appropriate” ways to honor the birthday student
Thus, parents should not send in birthday cakes, sweets, foods or “goody bags.”
We appreciate your support and cooperation in our endeavor to keep students healthy.

For more information see Student Wellness Policy.
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