In addition to reading and math testing, schools in Georgia may soon require all students to step on a scale twice a year–a move designed to combat childhood obesity. A bill introduced Thursday in the Georgia Senate would require schools to check and report students’ body mass index, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “If school districts don’t comply with the new rules, they’d be labeled as ‘unhealthy school zones’ on a state Web site that measures school performance,” the paper says.
Hey….wait a second….isn’t MeMe from Georgia?
Body-Mass-Index is one of six fitness standards California assesses in 7th graders, so it’s not unheard of. I’m not sure how many grade levels the do fitness assessments for, other than 5th and 7th.
Rachel, does California publish the BMI data and hold schools accountable for it? We measure and weigh our kids here in NY too. But I don’t believe the data is made public and schools labeled “unhealthy.” Seems a bit of a stretch to me.
It seems bizarre to me that once again SCHOOLS are blamed for things totally unrelated to education. Students eat one meal a day (lunch) at school (which they might buy at school or bring in from home). All other meals (breakfast, dinner, afterschool snacks, and everything on weekends and school vacations) are not eaten at school (unless they qualify for free breakfast).
I bet the schools themselves have very little to do with the weight of the kids. The kids’ health is most likely a product of the neighborhoods the children live in and their families (and quite possibly connected to poverty).
Yup, weighing the kids will do the trick. After all, it is only adults who never weigh themselves who get fat.