Schooling Your Body: The Role and Ability of Public Schools in Promoting Student Wellness

Abstract

This study examines the role of schools in promoting student health and the ways in which the government's Child Nutrition and WIC Act of2004 will affect that role. It looks specifically at Fitzgerald Public School district in Warren, Michigan. Research was carried out from June to October of 2006. This study focuses on the inequalities already present within working class school systems and why those inequalities make it difficult for a wellness policy to be put into action. It also focuses on the ways in which advertising affects the legitimacy of the policies being put into place by the school system and various steps Fitzgerald is taking in order to create a stronger Wellness Plan.