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Objective: Explore student-involvement goals in local wellness policies (LWPs) of local education agencies (LEAs) in Pennsylvania (PA) and investigate associations with LEA characteristics., Design: An observational study that helped examine student-involvement goals., Setting: Public PA LEAs., Participants: LWPs submitted by 539 PA public LEAs., Main Outcome Measures: Six student-involvement goals analyzed as dependent variables. Correlations between demographic and policy characteristics of LEAs and student-involvement goals were measured., Analysis: Policies developed by LEAs were abstracted and analyzed. Logistic regression models were developed to analyze relationships between student-involvement goals and the demographic and policy characteristics of LEAs., Results: Majority of LEAs included policy goals that address student involvement in an array of activities related to wellness policy, food service, and role modeling. Regression models showed that LEAs with comprehensive and strong policies were most likely to include student-involvement goals regardless of LEA location, enrollment, or socioeconomic status of students., Conclusions and Implications: Student engagement in school nutrition policies has been shown to increase student acceptance in an array of health-related areas and is therefore promising in the area of obesity prevention. Comprehensiveness and rigor of LWPs were strongly correlated with the inclusion of student-involvement goals on LWPs. The upcoming reauthorization of the Child Nutrition programs in 2010 creates a good opportunity to address student involvement in LWPs., (Copyright © 2010 Society for Nutrition Education. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The objectives of this study were to describe the extent, nature, and enforcement of school competitive food policies in Pennsylvania public high schools and to determine if there are differences between school foodservice directors' and principals' perceptions of the existence and enforcement of these policies. A survey was distributed to 271 school foodservice directors and 100 principals in a representative, random sample of high schools. Two hundred twenty-eight school foodservice directors (84%) and 79 principals (79%) returned surveys. Descriptive statistics, chi2 analyses, and a proportions test were done using SPSS statistical software (SPSS base 11.5 for Windows, 2002, SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL). Few nutrition policies were reported related to setting nutritional standards for competitive foods (0.5% to 15.0%). Respondents' reporting of existence of policies not always enforced ranged from 0% to 12.8%. School foodservice directors reported uncertainty about existence of several policies outside their direct domain, but with potential effect on school meals participation. Differences were found between school foodservice directors' and principals' reporting of policies, with principals more often reporting policy existence and enforcement. These findings suggest the need for communication, both about existence of policies and chain of command in enforcement of policies. Given the local wellness policy provision of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004, opportunities exist for nutrition professionals to contribute to development of policies that influence the nutritional quality of school foods.