Assessing School Wellness Policies in the Greater Kansas City Area: Identifying Strengths and Challenges of Nutrition Policies in Schools

Abstract

To better understand the current status of local school wellness policies in the greater KC area, schools from a seven county region were evaluated. The purpose of the overall study was to gather and evaluate current wellness policies in use at schools in the greater Kansas City Area, assess if the policies are meeting national standards and identify areas that need improvement. A random selection of 222 schools from 48 school districts was assessed using the WellSAT (Wellness School Assessment Tool). Discussion groups were held with key school personnel to identify the challenges, benefits, supports, and priorities needed for implementing the school wellness policies. A two-page survey was also administered online for school personnel. All schools contacted reported that they used their district wellness policy and 46 of the 48 school districts policies were collected (95.8%). The two districts that did not provide their wellness policies were excluded from the study. The WellSAT results provided comprehensiveness and strength scores (100% highest possible score). The 46 policies averaged an overall score of 50.73% for total comprehensiveness and 22.88% for total strength. The "Standards for USDA Child Nutrition Programs and School Meal (US)" nutrition section was similar to the overall WellSAT findings, averaging a comprehensiveness score of 49.07% (vs. 50.73% overall) and an average total strength score of 22.98% (vs. 22.88% overall). The "Nutrition Standards for Competitive and Other Foods and Beverages (NS)" nutrition section scored lower in both comprehensiveness and strength when compared to the overall WellSAT, averaging a total comprehensiveness score of 41.71% (vs. 50.73% overall) and an average strength score of 6.66% (22.88% overall). These findings indicate that policies are written using weak and vague language suggesting significant improvements can be made in the strength and comprehensiveness of written school wellness policies.