Parents weigh in on measuring kids’ body mass index

LYNN – It’s called a body mass index, but the new measurement state health officials want schools to begin taking are a scientific way to determine if a child is overweight.
Keisha Gallant doesn’t like the idea.
“Let kids be kids; they’ll grow out of it,” the Brickett School parent said Thursday.
To calculate your own BMI, click:www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml
State Department of Public Health Commissioner John Auerbach disagrees. He characterized the childhood obesity problem in Massachusetts as very severe, with one-third of children overweight or obese.
Under regulations approved by the Massachusetts Public Health Council Wednesday, public schools will calculate students’ heights and weights into a body mass index and send the calculations, including resources on proper nutrition and exercise and partnering with pediatricians, home to parents.
Auerbach hopes the information will help reduce the juvenile obesity rate.
“This is about giving to parents the tools necessary for them to ensure that their children are as healthy as they can be,” Auerbach said.
The results will be sent home to parents for students in first, fourth, seventh and 10th grades in a package explaining what they mean and how parents can best combat obesity. Parents will be able to opt out.
The initiative makes sense to Brickett mother of two Kim Dorgan.
“If it helps parents get better nutritional advice, I’m all for it,” she said.
The new rules will replace the current process of weighing children every year. Eighteen other states require a body mass index calculation, but Massachusetts joins a smaller list of states that require schools to notify parents about it.
Public health officials in Cambridge, where schools have been sending home BMI calculations since 2003, said parents’ feedback has been positive.
“Parents do want to get this information and they’re more likely to change eating habits and physical activity,” said Jose Wendel, nutrition coordinator for the Cambridge Public Health Department’s School Health Program.
“It’s an effort to improve the role of the schools and help parents support their children in achieving a healthy lifestyle.”
The Multiservice Eating Disorders Association, a group dedicated to preventing and treating eating disorders, raised concerns the state regulations during the public hearing period because of the potential for negative body image and parent responses.
The concerns led officials to strengthen privacy and confidentiality provisions and work on language, such as not calling the calculation a “score.” But Rebecca Manley, the association’s founder, said the sensitivity guidelines aren’t enough.
“I can’t tell you how many times we’ve had clients in our office and they said the start of their eating disorder was being weighed and measured in school,” said Manley. “It is the role of the child’s primary care physician and not the role of the school to perform this.”
Still, health officials noted the regulations were praised by numerous groups, including the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Massachusetts School Nurse Organization. The new regulations will be phased into schools over the next 18 months.