Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Wellness topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Upper Darby wellness committee reviews wellness week, plans screen‑time work with students
Summary
Dr. Brian Yersone and Nina Tyre told the Education and Pupil Services Committee about student- and staff-focused wellness efforts — brain breaks, wellness week taste tests, employee wellness services — and said a screen‑time initiative will be pursued next school year with high‑school student participation.
At a meeting of the Upper Darby School District Education and Pupil Services Committee, Dr. Brian Yersone and Nina Tyre presented the wellness committee’s annual update, saying the committee met three times this year and will submit its triennial assessment to the public by June 30.
The presenters highlighted student opportunities for physical activity — PIAA sports, a turkey trot, walking and running clubs and intramurals — and described classroom “brain breaks” used to reduce inactivity and restore students’ focus. Dr. Yersone said the committee designed a wellness week that included nutrition lessons and a taste-testing station; the chosen food for the districtwide taste test was beans and legumes. “Our submission is due on June 30,” Dr. Brian Yersone said.
Nina Tyre, assistant director of human resources, outlined employee supports introduced in the 2025–26 school year: an employee assistance program, virtual mental‑health and nutrition counseling, Teladoc for general medicine and dermatology, flu shots, and a new wellness platform (On the Go Go) that hosted district wellness challenges. Tyre said more than 600 employee entries were collected for wellness‑week activities and that the district received a Silver Apple well‑being award from the Delaware County Health Trust for 2024–25.
Committee members pressed for specifics on the planned screen‑time initiative. Dr. Yersone said the committee will pursue that work next school year and reported that a prior voluntary parent pledge had strong elementary participation but weaker secondary participation. He said high‑school students will serve on the screen‑time committee to help design approaches for younger grades. A committee member said parents currently find the district progress report hard to interpret; presenters said LinkIt (the district’s proposed data platform discussed later in the meeting) may allow more informative, standards‑aligned progress reports in a second year of implementation.
The committee praised the wellness team’s collaboration and noted administrator and student involvement on the committee. The wellness update was informational; no board action was taken at this meeting.
