The Wellness Committee has been working to bring Wellness in the Schools (WITS), a 3-year program that brings a recess coach and chef to help promote physical fitness and nutrition to the school.
The Coach for Kids program focuses both on physical and emotional-social development of students by teaching kids fun games while instructing them on how to work in teams and handle complex social situations.
The Cook for Kids program places culinary school graduates in schools to help schools take full advantage of the alternative menu, a program now in place at P.S. 217 thanks to the hard work of the Community Engagement Committee.
In October, members of the Wellness Committee together with members of P.S. 217 administration visited P.S. 295 and saw their Coach for Kids program in action. In December, the Director of Coach for Kids came to our school to meet with Ms. Conti and interested parents. We discussed strategies for physical activity when inclement weather prevents playground time, increased recess time for our kindergartners, and learned about the scope of the coaching program. At our next meeting, the director of the Cook for Kids program will visit and share more details on that component of the program. WITS is “pay what you can” for Title I schools like ours, and we are currently on the waiting list with hopes of implementing the program in September of 2016.
If anyone is interested in joining the Wellness Committee, or coming to future WITS meetings, please contact Sarah Kunstler at sarah.kunstler@gmail.com
