The Knoxville School District may soon update its six-year-old wellness policy.
Superintendent Steve Wilder says the policy covers things like nutrition in school lunches, physical activity goals, and health education.
Wilder tells the District-202 School Board there’s one area it doesn’t cover, but maybe it should.
“I think there’s an opportunity here to expand it a little bit, to look at staff wellness, as well as maybe community wellness,” says Wilder. “That’s not necessarily required in the plan, so we may not include that in the plan itself. But, it gives us an opportunity to have that conversation.”
Wilder says he’s found a few potential template policies he’s given to the school nurse and food services director to get their feedback, and says he may have a public meeting in the future to get residents’ feedback as well.
Meanwhile, the school year in Knoxville schools is only a few days old, but the principal of Knoxville High School says he’s seeing something that he thinks is pretty remarkable.
Chad Bahnks tells the District-202 School Board he’s seeing something he’s seen before, but not in the way it’s currently happening.
“The school spirit just seems to be up right now. There’s just a really cool vibe right now,” says Bahnks. “It feels different this year than most any other year…because of the seniors. The names of the [football] players down the hallway, then the banners down the hallway as well, just kind of led the school spirit. Three or four years ago, all of that would have been torn down, potentially, on day one.”
Bahnks says Freshman orientation at KHS this year was also student-led for the first time. What’s more, district officials say 60 to 70 percent of all KHS students are involved in extra-curricular activities, and that 50 out of 80 senior students are involved in a fall sport, which they say is huge.
The Knoxville School Board approved several new hires along with a few resignations Monday night, and an agreement to continue to be a part of a Career and Technical Education cooperative.
