- Oceanside Unified School District
- Immunizations, Health, & Wellness
Wellness-Building Healthy Lives
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IMMUNIZATIONS
Under Senate Bill 277 (as of January 1, 2016), exemptions based on personal beliefs, including religious beliefs, are no longer an option for the vaccines that are currently required for entry into child care or school in California. Most families will not be affected by the new law because their children have received all required vaccinations.
No Shots No School
California requires students who are from out of state to have verification of chicken pox either through a doctor’s note or immunizations. Chicken pox is a one or two dose series.
Hepatitis B is now required for entrance in California schools for all out of state students, except 7th graders. Hepatitis B is either a two or three dose series.
The other required immunizations are the normal infant shots and boosters of polio, measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), as well as diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough (DPT).
- For students entering 7th grade:
A medical exemption letter MUST be from a licensed California doctor and must indicate whether it is temporary or permanent. - For any students changing from one school to another:
Must have 2 varicella immunizations, regardless of the grade.
For more information about school immunization requirements and resources, visit the California Department of Public Health Immunization Branch website, Shots for School, or contact the North Coastal Public Health Center at 760-967-4401.
WELLNESS COMMITTEE
The District Wellness Committee provides support in implementing Board Policy 5030: Student Wellness. The Wellness Committee advises the district on health-related issues, activities, policies, and programs. The intent of the Student Wellness Policy is to ensure that all school environments promote healthy eating and physical activities for district students.
The Student Wellness Policy contains three main components:- Nutrition
- Nutrition Education
- Physical Education
Foods and beverages sold to students through the district’s child nutrition program, student stores, vending machines, and fundraisers meet or exceed state and federal nutrition standards. Nutrition education is provided as a part of the health education program as well as the before and after school programs. Opportunities for physical activity are provided through physical education, recess, school athletic programs, extracurricular programs, and before and after school programs.
NUTRITION
Fresh from the Garden
Eating food in season -- fresh from the farmers market -- is a great way to introduce yourself to new foods and the people who grow them. It is also more nutritious and earth friendly to eat locally grown, freshly picked fruits and vegetables. For more on fresh garden produce, go to: Eat the Seasons
The Oceanside Morning Farmers Market provides access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food, while helping support our area farms. Visit the Main Street Oceanside website for more information. It's open Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Pier View way and Coast Highway in Oceanside.
Tips to Healthy Cooking
- Use olive, avocado, or vegetable oil instead of lard or animal fat
- Bake or air fry instead of deep fry
- Fresh is better than canned
- Try spices in place of salt
The internet abounds with healthy recipes to suit every taste and dietary preference. Cook-along videos make cooking easy and fun. Be sure to have adult supervision in the kitchen and try to include fresh produce whenever possible!
OUSD Nutrition
The OUSD Child Nutrition Services provides choices for healthy meals. During the school closures due to the pandemic, Nutrition Services continued to provide meals to families. Please visit the Nutrition Services webpage for more information and school meal menus.
FITNESS
How much Physical Activity do Children Need?
Children and adolescents should do sixty minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day according to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans set up by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Parents should make sure their child is having fun, participating in a variety of age appropriate activities, and including activity that falls into each of the following categories: aerobic, muscle strengthening, and bone strengthening.
Aerobic activity should make up most of your child’s sixty minutes or more of physical activity during the day. This can include moderate activity such as brisk walking or vigorous activity such as running. Children need vigorous aerobic activity at least three days per week. Muscle strengthening activities such as push ups, chin ups, or climbing the monkey bars and bone strengthening activities such as jump roping and hopscotch should also be included at least three days per week.
How do you know if your child’s aerobic activity is moderate or vigorous intensity? On a scale of 0 to 10, where sitting is a 0 and sprinting is a 10, moderate intensity activity is usually a 5 or 6. A child participating in moderate activity will have a faster heart beat and will breathe harder than normal. Vigorous activity is a level 7 or 8 and the child’s heart rate will be much higher and breathing will be much harder than normal. Walking to school with a group of friends is probably moderate activity while playing a game of tag would fall in the vigorous category.
For more information on aerobic, muscle, and bone strengthening activities, as well as guidelines on being physically active while social distancing, visit the Centers for Disease Control website.
For more articles on exercise basic needs, age-appropriate exercise, and active living, visit Healthfully.
ZERO WASTE
The City of Oceanside has partnered with the Oceanside Unified School District to commit to the goal of Zero Waste. Through this partnership, OUSD and the City implement their strategies to educate and instill zero waste behaviors in all students and staff. To help reduce waste, students and staff are encouraged to recycle as much as they can.
- For students entering 7th grade:
Healthy Breakfast for a Good Start
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Statistics show that children benefit in a multitude of ways when they start their day with a healthy breakfast. And while parents have a number of things to tend to each morning in getting children ready for school, adding “prepare nutritious breakfast” to the daily to-do list will benefit your child for years to come.
Numerous studies indicate that children who eat a healthy breakfast have more energy throughout the day, increase their thinking and memory skills and maintain a healthier weight and a more active metabolism. Additionally, students who eat a good breakfast have fewer discipline problems and make fewer visits to the school nurse.
On the flip side, research shows that children who skip breakfast tend to suffer from behavioral, emotional and academic problems. Researchers have also found that when children do not eat well in the morning they may demonstrate more hyperactive behavior and tend to be absent and tardy more frequently.
The Oceanside Unified School District supports a strong wellness program for all OUSD students. Meals provided through our free-and-reduced lunch programs and foods and snacks sold on our campuses are all approved as healthy and nutritious for our students. Please take the time to make sure your student arrives for school energized by a healthy breakfast, or in time to enjoy a healthy breakfast at school.Breakfast can improve children's:
- School attendance
- Class behavior
- Desire to learn
- Memory
- Test scores
- Math & reading
- Graduation rates
Information courtesy of San Diego County Health Human Services Agency