Getting Junk Food Out of School: How Your School District Wellness Policy Can Help
| March 8, 2013 | Posted by Stacy under Junk food in school |
The single worst thing to happen to my kids’ eating habits was starting school. A bold statement, I know, but it’s true. It isn’t like they’d never had cheap, neon-colored cupcakes and artificially infused candy before walking through the doors. But with their enrollment (beginning with preschool) came a dramatic boost in their consumption of low-quality sugary treats and other highly processed blech. With all the birthday celebrations, holiday parties, ice cream and candy rewards, bake sales, and sugar-fueled after-hours events, school has started to feel like one big junk food fest (SEE: Rant of the Day: Please Stop Feeding My Kids Junk Food at School!).
Right now, across the country, a lot of positive things are happening with school food. Thanks to higher United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) standards (new as of July 2012), school meals have gotten healthier. The USDA’s proposed competitive food rules (scheduled to go into effect in Fall 2013) promise to bring healthy changes to food and drinks sold in a la carte lines, vending machines and school stores. However, foods served at classroom parties and at other school functions aren’t covered under these guidelines (even though they do compete with the federally subsidized meals program, at least in my mind). Thanks to this major loophole, junk food has the potential to remain alive and well in many of our schools.
Enter the school district wellness policy. Every district participating in the federal meals program is required to have a written policy that includes nutrition guidelines for all foods available at school (hello, birthday cupcakes!) as well as nutrition education, physical activity and more. A strong policy can be extremely helpful when it comes to transforming the food culture at a school. After a year of attempting to give classroom parties at my son’s elementary school a healthy makeover, I’ve concluded that it can be difficult to make real change without one.
The fact that all schools must have wellness policies is a good thing. But it’s far from a slam dunk. Because, you see, not all of them are created equal. The policy in my school district, for example, is extremely weak. What’s more, it hasn’t been updated since its conception in 2006. This technically puts us in violation of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. Fortunately, the district is aware of the problem and has agreed to let me (as part of a group of school administrators, staff, teachers, community members and parents) help revise it. I’m REALLY hoping that this will be an opportunity to create firm rules about classroom parties and food rewards.
Whenever someone comes to me for advice on tackling junk food in school, I tell them to start by digging up their school district wellness policy. I found mine posted on my school district website. If you can’t find yours online, call your district office and ask for a copy.
Once you have the district policy in hand, you can compare it with this federal Wellness Policy Requirement Checklist to see how it measures up. Or, you can use the Yale Rudd Center’s online Wellness School Assessment Tool to assess the policy’s strength and comprehensiveness. (I used it and my school district’s policy got an “F” as a grade…which shows how badly it needs to be revised!).
If you discover that the policy is strong and supports your own healthy views, you can use it as ammo when talking to other parents, teachers and school officials. If the policy doesn’t meet federal requirements, then you should alert district administrators that it needs updating and (if possible) offer to help with the process (for example, by serving on the committee charged with revising it or providing links to model school wellness policies and other online resources).
It also is a good idea to check to see if your state has a policy on foods served on school grounds. Some, like Connecticut and Nevada, have rules that apply to classroom food. To find out if yours does, take a look at the School Food Environment section of the National Association of State Board of Education’s State School Healthy Policy Database. On the same database, you also can find out if your state has any additional requirements for school district wellness policies. To see all the health and wellness regulations for your state, go to the View By State tab and search away.
Unfortunately, schools that have strong wellness policies don’t always do a good job of promoting and enforcing them. If that’s the situation in your district, you should contact the school official in charge of the policy, notify him or her of the problem, and file a complaint. For more information, check out How to Enforce a Wellness Policy: A Guide for Parents and Communty Advocates from the National Policy & Legal Analysis Network to Prevent Childhood Obesity.
Check out the School Wellness Policies section on my Resources page for more helpful links.
Oh, and you may want to read Taking a Stand Against Junk Food in School: Why It’s Hard–But We Need to Do It Anyway and Why Candy Valentines Don’t Belong in School (and What You Can Do About Them).
Do your kids get a lot of junk food at school? If so, does it frustrate you? What, if anything, have you done to fight back? I love hearing your stories (honestly, they make me feel less alone on this journey!). So please scroll down and leave a comment!
I created this blog to raise awareness and start a dialogue about the various issues involved in school food. By writing about it, I hope to provide parents and educators with ideas and inspiration for making healthy changes in their own schools. Since healthy eating habits start at home, I also address common feeding challenges faced by parents.
Great article!! Thank you for putting so much useful information in one place!
You’re welcome! So glad that you found it helpful. I really appreciate the feedback!
Great article.
A lot of positive things are indeed happening with school food, and I think the federal rules regarding competitive foods are a much needed change.
It will take a while until the snack food regulations are installed, and even longer until we can see their effects on kids’ diets.
But I think that paying attention and debating the foods sold at schools will have immediate educational outcomes. The fact that so many parents and kids are now debating the issue is a huge deal.
Yes, I completely agree with you. We are making progress. But as a parent, it can feel painfully slow. How much processed junk food will my kids get loaded up with until we have strong policies that are implemented and followed–and the “majority rule” favors healthy food? It is an uphill battle, but definitely one worth fighting.
[…] Need help getting the junk out of your child’s school? This blog post over at School Bites is a great way to […]
Those of us whose children are attending a charter school may face additional opposition. Our local education agency is under the impression that charter schools aren’t subject to the same laws for wellness policies. Then I found this:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/healthy/wellnesspolicy2004_faq.html
9. Does the wellness policy requirement apply to private schools, including religious private schools, and charter schools?
Yes. Any school that participates in a program authorized under the National School Lunch Act or the Child Nutrition Act must develop a local wellness policy as specified in the Section 204 of the Public Law 108–265, the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004.
I’m up against school administrators that offer food rewards in every class and food celebrations during lunch. They won’t read, won’t listen, and don’t think the laws apply to them.
I can’t help but wonder why someone would want to keep junk food in the school.
Jennifer: Sadly, I’m in the same boat. It is hard to believe that they wouldn’t want a healthier school environment but, alas, it seems to be the case. They don’t want to be told what to do, don’t want to tell others what to do, and clearly, don’t really see the value of eliminating (or even just limiting) junk food. Glad that you are doing your homework, and I hope that you can find some like-minded parents, teachers or SOMEONE who will help you. In our own community, I’ve heard that letters to the editor do get our school board’s attention. I wish you the best of luck and let me know if I can be of assistance in any way.
The link to Wellness Policy Requirement Checklist is broken. I think it should be: https://www.sde.idaho.gov/site/cnp/wellness/docs/Doc%2520B%2520-%2520Basic%2520LWP%2520Checklist%2520with%2520feedback.docx