District 300 gets grant to improve student health

While educators nationwide debate the merits of serving children chocolate milk, staff at Carpentersville-area schools will soon be making similar decisions for their student bodies.

The Illinois Nutrition Education Training Program and the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently awarded Community Unit District 300 a $56,000 grant to improve children's health at the district's 17 elementary schools.

Under the "HealthierUS School Challenge," teams at each of the elementary schools will work to offer healthy food choices and physical education programs in hopes of earning recognition from the USDA.

District officials plan to use the grant money to fund staff training and online menus.

The district applied for the grant "to assess and be aware of our wellness attributes and hopefully strive for improvements," District 300 grant specialist Eric Knutson said. "There are 17 schools, so I have quite a bit of work to assemble those teams."

Starting in January, teams made up of school nurses, physical education teachers and food service workers will evaluate their school's menu, participation rate in the National School Lunch Program and physical education curriculum.

After the teams have completed their work by an April 30 deadline, the USDA will evaluate their efforts and award each school bronze, silver, gold or the gold award of distinction.

Under the award criteria, schools should strive to offer daily fruit, vegetables, fruit juice, whole grains and low-fat milk. The schools must also provide nutrition education for some grade levels and physical education for all full-day students.

In 2009, the Department of Agriculture awarded more than $5.8 million in grant money to schools across the country under the HealthierUS School Challenge. The USDA has awarded more than $60.7 million since the program's inception in 1995.

District 300 staff will outline the program for the school board and public at the board's meeting at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 11.