Massachusetts scrap controversial student obesity letters
A vote by the Public Health Council of Massachusetts
ended a four-year-old state program aimed at reversing the obesity epidemic.
They voted to end letters that Massachusetts public schools sent parent’s about
their child’s weight, following criticism that the practice led to bullying and
excessive costs for schools. Public schools will still be required to continue
student weight and height screenings in grades 1, 4, 7, and 10 to help
officials gather data regarding obesity trends and identify possible
system-wide solutions. New rules allow school districts to make the information
available to parents/guardians upon written request.
While
the program saw success of the percentage of students who are overweight or
obese dropped 3.7 percentage points between 2009 and 2013, there were problems
with the program. Schools stated it was too expensive to send the letters and
instead sent them home in the child’s backpack and this sometime led to
inadvertent disclosure of information to other students and teasing. The
program intended to foster conversation between parents and the child’s
physician about weight and exercise, but did not help change childhood obesity
rates.
It
is great to see that states and school districts are trying to implement
programs to help decrease childhood obesity. This program had some success, but
with improvements, expenses could possibly be decreased and confidential
information of the child could remain confidential and prevent bullying.
Further efforts also need to be made to discuss weight and exercise of the
parent and healthcare professionals. It would also be great if healthy
lifestyle food choices were addressed in these programs.
Lazar, K. (2013, Oct. 16). Massachusetts scraps
controversial student obesity letters. Boston
Globe. Retrieved from: http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/2013/10/16/massachusetts-scraps-controversial-student-obesity-letters/7A35q2d552eSMViKYAfiEJ/story.html
-MG
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