The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 requires every local education agency (LEA) participating in the National School Lunch and/or Special Milk Program to establish a local wellness policy by the start of the 2006-2007 school year.

Students at St. Mary Magdalen benefit from the Special Milk Program, which subsidizes the cost of milk for all students and provides free milk for qualified students. Because SMM values its participation in this federally funded program the school initiated a wellness committee in 2005-2006 school year to comply with this legislation.

Members of the Wellness Committee were chosen to include broad representation of the school community. Members included faculty from the physical education dept and from the primary and middle schools. Parents were chosen with healthcare backgrounds and from the Hot Lunch and Irish Coffee programs.

The Wellness Committee drafted and developed a School Wellness Policy. This policy was accepted by Sr. Joanne, the school faculty, and the SMM School Commission in the spring of 2006. A copy of this policy is available for review in the school office.

The initial focus of the wellness committee has been to establish goals for the nutritional quality of foods offered on campus and to promote nutrition and physical activity education in our school community.

The Wellness Committee welcomes any input from the school community. Our goal is to promote health in a positive way in keeping with the individual needs and comfort levels of all school families and staff.