The Nueces County Juvenile Justice Center is committed to providing school environments that promote and protect children's health, well-being, and ability to learn by supporting healthy eating and physical activity. Therefore, it is the policy of the Nueces County Juvenile Justice Center that:

We will engage with juveniles, parents, teachers, food service professional, health professional, and other interested community members in developing, implementing, monitoring, and reviewing facility nutrition and physical activity policies.

Juveniles will have opportunities, support, and encouragement to be physically active on a regular basis.

Aramark is responsible for serving the food and beverages to our juveniles and will meet the nutrition recommendations of the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, Guidelines of the Child Nutrition Act. The child nutrition staff provide a variety of nutritious and appealing foods that meet the health and nutrition needs of juveniles. The child nutrition professionals will accommodate the religious, ethnic, and cultural diversity of juveniles in meal planning and will provide clean area and adequate time for juveniles to eat. The Nueces County Juvenile Justice Center participates in school meal programs - School Breakfast Program and National School Lunch Program.

The Department will provide nutrition and physical education to foster lifelong habits of healthy eating and physical activity. The Department will include enjoyable, developmentally appropriate, culturally relevant, participatory activities, such as promotions and/or school gardens.

Achieve These Policy Goals:

  1. Juvenile Wellness Committee

The Juvenile Justice Center have a committee to develop, implement, monitor, review, and as necessary, revise the Wellness, school nutrition and physical activity policies. The committee Consists of a group of individuals representing the school and community, parents, juveniles, the School Food Authority or designee, child nutrition professionals, health professionals, Juvenile Board, and Facility Administrators.

  1. National Quality of Foods and Beverages Served

Meals served through the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs will:

  • be appealing and attractive to the juveniles.
  • be served in clean setting.
  • be safe and sanitary.
  • be modified in accordance with a physician/medical authority diet prescription.
  • be modified in accordance with religious beliefs, at a minimum, nutrition requirements established by local, state, and federal statutes and regulations.
  • offer a variety of fruits and vegetables.
  • serve only low-fat (1%) and fat-free milk; and nutritionally equivalent non-dairy alternatives (to be defined by USDA); and
  • ensure all meals served are whole grain rich.

Juvenile Involvement. The Department engages juveniles, through surveys, in selecting foods served through the school meal programs to identify new, healthy, and appealing food choices.

Meal Scheduling:

  • Non-Culinary staff (Juvenile Supervision Officers) will be served what was prepared for breakfast and/or lunch.
  • Juveniles will have access to hand washing or hand sanitizing before they eat meals or snacks.
  • Reasonable steps should be taken to accommodate the tooth-brushing regimens of juveniles with special oral health needs (e.g., orthodontia or high tooth decay risks).

Qualifications of School Food Service Staff:

Child nutrition professionals will administer the school meal programs. As part of the Department's responsibility to operate a food service program, we will accommodate continuing professional development for all nutrition professionals. Staff development programs should include appropriate certification and/or training programs for child nutrition directors, school nutrition managers, and culinary staff, according to their levels of responsibility.

Sharing of Foods and Beverages:

The Department discourages juveniles from sharing their food or beverages with one another during meal or snack times, given concerns about allergies and other restrictions on some juvenile's diets.

  1. Nutrition Education and Promotion

Nutrition Education and Promotion. The Nueces County Juvenile Justice Center aims to teach, encourage, and support healthy eating by juveniles. The Department should provide nutrition education and engage in nutrition promotion that:

  • Provide that Juveniles receive classroom instructions, dependent on each grade level, to include reading and understanding nutrition labels, portion sizes, and knowledge on proteins, fats and carbohydrates.
  • Include enjoyable, developmentally appropriate, culturally relevant, participatory activities, such as promotions and/or school gardens.
  • Promote fruits, vegetables, whole grain products, low-fat and fat-free dairy products, healthy food preparation methods, and health-enhancing nutrition practices; and
  • Emphasize caloric balance between food intake and energy expenditure (physical activity and exercise).

  1. Physical Activity Opportunities and Physical Education

Juveniles receive at a minimum an hour of structured physical activity per day to include at least 50% of he time in moderate physical activity and an hour of team sports.

  1. Monitoring and Policy Review

Monitoring. The School Food Authority or designee will ensure compliance with established facility nutrition and physical activity wellness policies. The Department's designee will ensure compliance with those policies and will report every three years on compliance to the Chief Juvenile Probation Officer. Child Nutrition staff will ensure compliance with nutrition policies within school food service areas and will report on this matter to the School Food Authority. In addition, the Department will report on the most recent Administrative Review findings and any resulting changes.

Policy Review:

The review policy compliance assessment will be repeated every three years to assess progress and determine areas in need of improvement. As part of that review, we will evaluate our nutrition and physical activity policies; provide an environment that supports healthy eating and physical activity; and review nutrition and physical education policies and program elements. The Juvenile Justice Center, will, as necessary, revise the wellness policies and develop work plans to facilitate their implementation.