Do Schools in North Carolina have Policies that Promote Nutrition for School Age Children

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent school districts in North Carolina have policies that promote nutrition for school age children and the degree to which these policies were consistent with the Center for Disease Control's (CDC) Guidelines for School Health Programs to Promote Lifelong Healthy Eating . School food service directors of each public school district in North Carolina (N=117) were surveyed by questionnaire at the annual state conference. Those who were unable to attend were surveyed by mail and a total useable response of n=106(92%). Only 24.5% of the school districts had a coordinated nutrition policy and none of these were consistent with all of the CDC guidelines. Those having comprehensive nutrition policies were more likely to have individual policies for fund raising (p<.05); use of food as a reward (p<.05); vending machines (p<.01); and to have an evaluation program in place (p<.01). Districts that had nutrition policies (n=26) ranked support from school administrators and teachers and more financial support, respectively, as ways to improve current nutrition policies. The greatest barriers for setting nutrition policies in school districts were lack of support from school administrators and teachers and lack of financial support. Only one district identified a Registered Dietitian (RD) as being involved in the planning of the coordinated policy. The information gained from this study demonstrates that dissemination of the CDC guidelines for school nutrition policies has not been effective and RDs are not involved in the design of school nutrition policies in North Carolina. The study identifies barriers and demonstrates the importance of targeting school administrators and teachers for support of school nutrition policies.