Each local educational agency that participates in the National School Lunch Program is required by federal law to establish a local school wellness policy for all schools under its jurisdiction.
Local wellness policies are an important tool for parents, local educational agencies and school districts in promoting student wellness, preventing and reducing childhood obesity, and providing assurance that school meal nutrition guidelines meet the minimum federal school meal standards.
The wellness policy is a plan and common understanding of how schools are helping to make the healthy choice the easy choice at school. The wellness policy is updated periodically and parents, school staff, and the community all take part in creating it to ensure that everyone’s voice is heard.
Local wellness policies are an important tool for parents, local educational agencies and school districts in promoting student wellness, preventing and reducing childhood obesity, and providing assurance that school meal nutrition guidelines meet the minimum federal school meal standards.
The wellness policy is a plan and common understanding of how schools are helping to make the healthy choice the easy choice at school. The wellness policy is updated periodically and parents, school staff, and the community all take part in creating it to ensure that everyone’s voice is heard.
- Requirements
- Toolkits
- Assembling the Team
- Writing the Policy
- Model Wellness Policy: Meaning it goes above and beyond federal regulations.
- Sample Wellness Policy: Meaning it is compliant with the federal regulations.
- School Wellness Policy Sample Language
- Wellness Policy Elements: Looking for resources to help implement some of the wellness policy elements? You’ll find some right here.
- Implementation Fact Sheet
- Evaluating the Policy
- Build, assess and track your Wellness Policy progress with this online tool from the Alliance For a Healthier Generation.
- The updated WellSAT 3.0 is a quantitative assessment tool to help you identify where your policy is strong and where it could be improved. All WellSAT items reflect the federal law or best practices.
- IDOE Triennial Assessment Template: An assessment of your school wellness policy must be conducted a minimum of once every three years, per federal regulations. Sponsors may use this template to organize their assessment and post publicly.
- Wellness Policy in Action Tool: Use your results from the WellSAT 3.0 and School Health Index to examine the relationship between your wellness policy and school-level health practices
- Funding
- Community Partners
- Other Resources