Posted on 03/21/2002 7:44:15 AM PST by gubamyster
School Sends Letter to Parents of Obese Kids Schools Get Involved in Effort to Combat Obesity Epidemic
By Joann Loviglio The Associated Press
P H I L A D E L P H I A, March 20 — Some parents in one Pennsylvania school district are being sent letters that aren't alerting them about problems with their child's grades or behavior, but about their weight.
"When an examination reveals a child has vision problems, hearing problems, we inform the family; we weren't doing anything for weight," said George Ziolkowski, director of pupil personnel services for the East Penn School District, about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia. "If we have information that may have some bearing on a child's future health, why just put it in a drawer?"
The district now mails home letters to parents of children who are underweight, overweight or at risk of becoming overweight, urging them to see a doctor to rule out any underlying medical condition and encouraging them to contact their child's school nurse for nutrition and exercise information.
‘A Public Health Epidemic’
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls overweight and obesity "a public health epidemic," noting that the percentage of children and adolescents who are defined as overweight has more than doubled since the early 1970s.
Lifestyle changes are largely to blame: computer games and TV keep kids indoors; busy parents rely on fast or prepared foods that are loaded with fat; kids left alone after school are filling up on junk food.
Nationwide, about 13 percent of children and adolescents are overweight or obese, as are nearly 60 percent of adults, according to a report released in December by then-Surgeon General David Satcher.
The rate for the 300 elementary school children in the 6,800-student East Penn School District is right around the national number; results for older children have not yet been tabulated, Ziolkowski said.
About 380 confidential letters have gone out to elementary and middle school students since the program started this fall, with more expected to be sent once high school screenings are completed, Ziolkowski said.
He said he has fielded about 50 phone calls from parents — with those in favor and against the program about evenly split.
Stephanie Hertzog said the letter she received about her 12-year-old son Michael, a fifth-grader, didn't come as a surprise to either of them.
"He's a very husky boy. We know about his weight problem," she said. Her son stays active with baseball, bicycling and bowling but the school notification is helped her to broach the sensitive subject.
Does It Hurt Kids' Self-Image?
In southern Florida, under a program spearheaded a year ago by the Citrus County School District and the county health department, letters are sent home to all parents with a box checked indicating whether their child is overweight, at risk of becoming overweight, underweight or normal based on a formula called Body Mass Index.
The letters tell parents of overweight children of the potential health risks and advise a complete medical screening.
"We had some parents who seemed to think that nobody had thought of their child as overweight and what were doing was calling attention to the child, when the fact of the matter is that they're reminded of that fact every day" by classmates, said Sylvia Byrd of the Florida Health Department's School Health Program.
"To people who say this hurts their self-image, I would say that the biggest boost for their self-image would be to get them to a healthier weight and a more active lifestyle," she said.
Florida has mandated that the health department gather baseline data on students in kindergarten, third, sixth and ninth grades and offer counseling to overweight students in those grades. State health officials left it up to local health departments on how to do that.
Sending letters home to make parents aware of their child's weight problem — and the potential for complications like diabetes and high blood pressure — is a good idea, said Dr. Andrew Tershakovec, director of the Weight Management Program at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
He said the number of children and adolescents with type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, joint problems and high cholesterol is rising along with obesity rates and added that schools should take an active role by providing plenty of opportunities for exercise and nutritious cafeteria choices.
"It's wholly appropriate for the public health community to identify children in this way," Tershakovec said. "It's a public health issue."
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
If we are going to screen for health, obesity is definitely about health. It affects heart, lung, liver, pancreas, hormones, etc.
Interesting that many of our devoutly religious schools, churches, and associations are death on tobacco and alcohol while welcoming all the desserts. It is another one of our blind spots.
Heaven forbid we hurt Johnny's self esteem. Sheesh..
Nah, that's just Rosie O'Donut and Michael Mooron throwing off the curve.
Didn't think so....
When your kid sits around the classroom, he sits around the classroom.
I know this is a rhetorical question, but the answer is that they are smarter than we are and they really care about the children. Unlike you, of course, who is not smart enough to be a socialist leader and obviously don't care as much as they do.
After all, the Soviet Union did not fail because the idea itself was bad, but just because we didn't have people like them (and Hillary and Bill) running the country.
And whats wrong with that? Being obese IS a health risk and may well result in that individual requiring far more in the way of health care. Just like smokers and alcoholics. Why should the rest of us pay the freight?????
Absolutely. And if your family has any history of cancer, diabetes or heart disease, well, we better not cover you then either. In fact, we should probably segregate you off to the resettlement camps; don't want to scare anyone with the threat of all these genetic deficiencies. And our records also show you have a history of nail-biting; that promotes disease too. Please report to the tattooing room for your permanent identifier...
The point is not that obesity is bad. Of course it is and I have been fighting it all my life. The point is that the school district's job is to educate children, not see to their health. I can see doing vision and hearing screening, because that directly affects what the school is supposed to be doing. I can understand that they do scoliosis screening, because that is not always obvious (but don't the parents love their children enough to have them screened, or must the Nanny State do that for us?).
But parents cannot help but see if their child is overweight to the point of being obese. Just as we cannot screen for every bit of bad parenting, we can't use schools to screen for every health problem, preventable or not. I survived being overweight in school and, as a responsible adult, know that I need to do something. Schools should get back to the job of education and cut all the social garbage (except to the extent it directly affects learning).
Stupid people who think their personal feelings should determine how the rest of us should live annoy me. I can (and am) losing weight. I suspect there is no hope for your stupidity.
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