3. Staff is encouraged to find creative ways to promote physical activity
before, during and after the school day.
E. Promoting a Healthy Lifestyle
1. Classroom health education will complement physical education by
reinforcing the knowledge and self-management skills needed to
maintain a physically active lifestyle and to reduce time spent on
sedentary activities such as watching television.
2. The district’s Transportation Department, with the help of Safe Routes
to School, will work with the schools to promote safe, active trips on
foot and bicycle for children not eligible for bus transportation.
F. Rewards and Punishment
1. Physical activity is important, therefore, staff will use reasonable
judgment before using physical activity or the withholding of physical
activity as punishment. ”Ex: all students should participate in sched-
uled physical activities, but if a student is disruptive during recess or
a physical education class, the teacher may restrict the student’s in-
volvement to gain control of their behavior.”
2. Food will not be used as a reward or punishment. Teachers are en-
couraged to offer non-food items as classroom rewards. Staff will
not be reimbursed for purchases of candy, pop, and other food re-
wards effective the 2009/2010 school year. Site administrators
may allow purchases of foods or snacks for testing days based on re-
search and recommended best practices. Per the Americans with
Disabilities Act, special consideration will be given for individuals
with an Individual Evaluation Plan or 504 accommodations.
VI. MONITORING AND POLICY REVIEW
A. The superintendent or designee will ensure compliance with this Well-
ness Policy through the Health, Wellness and Safety Committee. At the
school level, the principal or designee will ensure compliance with the
Wellness Policy and report on the school’s compliance to the Health,
Wellness and Safety Committee. The superintendent will expand the
responsibility of each school’s Health, Wellness and Safety Committee
to assist in the implementation of the reporting and monitoring require-
ments of this policy.
B. The Health, Wellness and Safety Committee will be responsible for coor-
dinating information from schools and departments, compiling data and
reporting to the superintendent regarding compliance of this policy. The
Health, Wellness and Safety Committee will establish methods to monitor
results of the policy and measure compliance throughout the district. The
Health, Wellness and Safety Committee will review the plan on a yearly
basis and make recommendations to the superintendent as necessary.
C. Policy review and assessment of items monitored shall be repeated every
three years to help maintain compliance, assess progress and determine
areas in need of improvement. The Health, Wellness and Safety Commit-
tee will revise the Wellness Policy and develop work plans to facilitate
their implementation as necessary.
D. The superintendent or designee will develop a summary report every
three years on district-wide compliance with the district’s established
Wellness Policy based on input from the Health, Wellness and Safety
Committee. The report will assess the implementation of the policy
including the extent to which schools are in compliance and will
describe the progress made in attaining the goals of the policy. The
report will be provided to the School Board and distributed to groups
as directed by the School Board. The report will be made available to
the public once approved by the board.
2019-20 School Handbook
ahschools.us/policies
Unpaid meal account charges and debt
collection procedures
I. PURPOSE
The purpose of this procedure is to establish consistent district practices for the
provision of meals to students who have insufficient funds in their meal accounts
and the collection of unpaid meal debt.
II. GENERAL STATEMENT OF PROCEDURES
A. Anoka-Hennepin’s goal is to provide nutritious meals to students, to pro-
mote healthy eating habits and enhance learning, as well as maintain the
financial integrity of the National School Breakfast and Lunch programs,
and eliminate the stigmatization of children in the cafeteria who may be
unable to pay for a meal.
B. Anoka-Hennepin Schools offer breakfast and lunch meals that meet state
and federal guidelines to all students regardless of an unpaid meal ac-
count balance.
C. The purchase of school meals is set up through a prepaid meal system.
Families are required to have funds deposited into school meal accounts in
order for students to purchase meals.
i. Students who qualify for “paid” meals (not free or reduced-eligible) may
purchase meals when funds have been deposited into their family ac-
counts either online or by cash or check payment.
ii. Our district strives to ensure that nutritious meals are available to all
students, but must insist that a student’s prepaid meal account be kept
up to date in order to avoid formal collection procedures.
D. Families may apply for free/reduced-price meal benefits anytime during
the school year. Meal applications are available to all families in the
school/district prior to the start of the school year. In addition, applications
are available online at www.ahschools.us/freereduced after August 12,
2019 or paper copies are available by calling the Child Nutrition office at
(763) 506-1240. If household income or size changes, families can reapply
for meal benefits anytime during the school year.
III. CHARGE MEAL PROCEDURES
A. It is Anoka-Hennepin’s procedure that if the student account has insuffi-
cient funds to pay for breakfast and/or lunch meals, a student will still
be allowed to purchase a meal, which will cause the account balance to
become negative.
i. All students will be provided a meal regardless of meal account status.
While the district is under no legal obligation to do so, we believe that
this is in the best interest of the student.
ii. Students are not allowed to charge ala carte items. Students with negative
balances of $25.00 or more, that bring cash to the register,, will not be
able to purchase a la carte items except for milk or a small bottle of water.
IV. NOTIFICATION OF ACCOUNT STATUS
A. Anoka-Hennepin utilizes several methods to notify households of negative
meal balances:
i. Families can check their student’s meal account balance and purchases
when logged in to AH-Connect, by choosing SchoolMealAccount.
ii. The Child Nutrition Department will send a weekly e-mail and phone call
to all parents advising them of their students’ meal account that has a
negative balance.
iii. The Child Nutrition Department will send a monthly letter to families for
their students’ account(s) that owe $25.00 or more.
iv. The Child Nutrition Department will encourage all parents to complete
the free/reducedprice meal application each school year to assist with
meal accounts.
V. COLLECTION OF UNPAID MEAL DEBT
A. Families that have received negative balance letters twice in 60 days and
have failed to set up a payment plan for an account owing more than
$50.00 will be sent to the districts collection agency for collection of the
delinquent meal account balance.
61