Among parents’ top concerns are their young ones’ overall health—whether it be physical, mental, or emotional wellness—and most parents would do anything to ensure their children’s needs are met. From their first Health or Physical Education class, students learn that the treatment of body and mind today has lasting effects on future health and wellness. Beyond primary care physicians, local and state governments have taken action in recent years to collect data and raise awareness about the current state of youth wellness through public school systems. Some of these health orders, however, have sparked controversy right here in Massachusetts.
Specifically, in response to increasing rates of obesity among children, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health mandated screenings to calculate the BMI, or Body Mass Index, of public school students. School Health Departments gathered data on children in grades 1, 4, 7, and 10, in accordance with the Mass in Motion initiative of April 2009. School nurses send home individual screening results in letters directly to parents, as the Massachusetts School Health Unit suggests. Scituate’s school nurse, Ms. Bernard, emphasizes the importance of confidentiality throughout the process of measuring and reporting a student’s BMI. “When you do it, it has to be done with privacy,” Mrs. Bernard said.
According to the department’s December 2012 report, “The Status of Childhood Weight in Massachusetts,” BMI is calculated by age and gender with a formula of weight divided by the square of the height. The report said however, “BMI is a health screening tool and not a diagnostic tool. It is used to screen for obesity, overweight, healthy weight, or underweight and is only one of the data points used in a complete health assessment” (http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/docs).
Dalvin Soares, a junior and a rugby player at Scituate High School, recognizes that there are other factors, like muscularity or heredity, involved in BMI and a student’s health. “I don’t think [BMI] is a good evaluation of how people actually are because some people are just built bigger or taller,” Soares said.
A recent WHDH report finds that for a fourth grader and his family from North Andover, these letters are not only wasteful and unnecessary, but also pose a risk to other young students’ psychological health. The media has deemed them “fat letters.” While the letters are private, the fourth graders from North Andover quickly became aware of friends receiving results as “overweight” or “obese.” Labels like these threaten the self-esteem of inherently insecure children, preteens, and teens.
The Scituate Public School District’s result from screenings in 2010 and 2011 show that Scituate has one of the lowest average combined boys’ and girls’ Percentage of “overweight” or “obese” students at 20.3%, compared to other districts as high as 50%. The results of these tests help local legislators and Scituate school committees to make decisions about cafeteria diets, vending machines snacks, and health education programs. Yet, the question remains for lawmakers whether the risk of psychological endangerment to students exceeds these benefits.