“I’m confused by the whole policy,” Bobbi Jo Brown, a PTO president at an elementary school in Hanover, Pennsylvania, recently told a local reporter. “I understand as far as childhood obesity goes that they want to get a handle on it. But, it all starts at home.”

The new school-district wellness policies are based on a Congressional mandate that requires all school districts participating in the National School Lunch Program to have in place a “local school wellness policy” that, among other things, provides nutritional guidelines for foods sold on-campus, during the school day. Most of these new policies do not conflict with school group fundraising because lawmakers and school authorities realize that most of the candy sold by school groups is not sold to students for consumption at school. Rather they are sold to family members and friends – mostly adults – off school grounds.

“The ideal school wellness policy will focus on improved nutrition education and physical education,” according to Dr. Susan Finn, a registered dietician. “It will promote physical activity. It will involve nutritionists and dieticians educating teachers so that they can then educate their students with accurate information. It will turn school cafeterias into laboratories for [nutritional] learning.”

Finn is chair of the American Council for Fitness and Nutrition, a group of food and beverage companies, not-for-profit organizations, and trade associations working together to improve the health of Americans – particularly youth – by encouraging a healthy balance between fitness and nutrition. Finn does not believe restrictions on off-campus fundraising sales will help combat childhood obesity.

“It isn’t about banning foods,” she said. Finn believes schools need to focus on the positives – and instead of restricting certain foods, use them as an opportunity to teach students that all foods have a place in the diet, if consumed in moderation and in combination with exercise.

For more information on state wellness policies, visit the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) website at usda.gov. Also visit the website for the American Council for Fitness and Nutrition at acfn.org