The Vernon Public Schools District Wellness Committee (DWC) is made up of representatives from each school, Food & Nutrition, Physical Education, administrators, and community members. The DWC is responsible for establishing goals for and overseeing school health policies and programs including development, implementation and periodic review and update of the local School Wellness Policy. The District believes in integrating wellness activities across the entire school setting, which includes family involvement. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Final Rule: Local School Wellness Policy Implementation Under the HHFKA of 2010 requires that each local educational agency participating in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program must complete an assessment of their local school wellness policy at least once every three years. The LEA's assessment must indicate:

• the extent to which schools are in compliance with the district policy;

• the extent to which the local wellness policy compares to model local school wellness policies; and

• the progress made in attaining the goals of the local wellness policy.

The DWC used the WellSAT 3.0 to assess the district wellness policy in 2020. The WellSAT is a quantitative assessment tool to help score and improve the local School Wellness Policy. All WellSAT items reflect best practices. The purpose of scoring the district policy is to identify where it is strong and where it could be improved. The results of the scorecard in 2020 led the DWC to revise and strengthen the local School Wellness Policy. The updated policy can be found below.

Vernon Public Schools District Wellness Policy

The WellSAT-I is an interview that measures how fully a district is implementing wellness practices in its schools. It is designed to be used in conjunction with the written wellness policy scoring tool, WellSAT 3.0. The WellSAT-I was developed by a national team of researchers who work closely with school districts. The results of the WellSAT-I scorecard were then compared to the results of the WellSAT 3.0 to identify connections between policy and practice. This document lists the strong policies and aligned practices as well as the areas that need improvement. A summary of the findings can be found here.

For more information about the District Wellness Committee or local School Wellness Policy, please contact Elizabeth Fisher at efisher@vernon-ct.gov or 860-896-4683.