Students Graded on Their Weight; Parents Angry

Students in Gillette, Wyoming are being graded on their weight and fitness level. Body mass index (BMI) is being used to calculate whether the children are overweight. The students whose BMI is above the normal range are receiving bad fitness grades. Additionally, the word "overweight" is being printed on their report cards.

Once the obesity levels of the children are determined, letters are sent to the parents inviting the whole family to the Strong Kids Program. The free fitness program is offered by the school district and meets three times a week.

Parents are angry. It would be different, they say, if all the students were being invited to the fitness program. The invitations only went to the children determined to be overweight and the parents say those children, some of whom are already active in several sports programs, are being singled out and humiliated. One parent said she sends her child to school to learn math and reading, not to have her weight regulated.

But Dr. Dave Fall, a pediatrician and the chairman of the Cambell County School Board, disagrees. He is quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying, "The kids know they're overweight! They don't want to be overweight! They don't want to be unhappy."

He maintains that the school district never meant to offend anyone, but the Cambell County kids have a weight problem and something has to be done. He told ABC's Nightline, "I looked at my own practice. We looked at 200 consecutive kids, from age 2 on. We went from 2 to 5, and then 5 to whatever, and I found a rate of about 15 percent overweight, and that was about three or four years ago."

Jim Coca, a physical education teacher at Wagon Wheel Elementary, says it's a mistake to use BMI to determine whether kids are overweight. "A student with a high body mass index could be obese, but he could also be muscular," he said. "Over the research I've done, I've also found out that ... a student in the normal range, could have a high percent of body fat and not be carrying muscle, and still be considered normal. So, I see inconsistencies in both directions."

Fall agrees that BMI calculations are inaccurate, but he says it works well as long as it's only being used as an aggregate.

Fitness grades are only part of the program implemented by Fall. Soft drinks are no longer allowed in the schools, and meals are being closely regulated. Second helpings are no longer allowed except for fresh fruits and vegetables. Lunch servers have been told to give smaller portions on first helpings. Bake sales to raise funds for school programs are strongly discouraged.

Fall says kids learn better when they're healthy. "It is an academic issue, and an education issue, in my opinion," he told Nightline. "And that's why putting it on the report card, I think, is the right thing to do."

Approximately 200 families were invited to the Strong Kids Program. According to Nightline, only eight have participated so far.

SOURCES:

"Weight Grade on Report Cards Angers Parents," ABC News, May 8, 2007
URL: http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Story?id=3153074&page=1

"In Obesity Wars, a New Backlash," University of South Carolina, reprinted from the Wall Street Journal
URL: http://www.sc.edu/healthycarolina/pdf/LSS_ObesityWars.pdf