'Overweight' Letters From Schools Outrage Parents
POSTED: Tuesday, May 13, 2008
UPDATED: 9:30 pm EDT May 15,
2008
 Parents are outraged over letters being sent home from Central Florida schools calling their children overweight. |
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Parents are outraged over letters being sent home from Central Florida schools calling their children overweight.
LINK BMI Calculator
Local 6 showed three children that the Florida Department of Health considers at risk for obesity.However, parents disagree."I don't feel that it's accurate," parent Solan Udell said. "I don't feel that he's overweight. You don't look at my son and say he's overweight.""It makes me feel bad for my son, I guess," parent Kiely Solby said. "I don't want anything negative said about my son. You try for the best for your children."Solby and other parents are blasting Florida's latest health screening report cards, calling the findings pure insult and bad math, Local 6's Mike Holfeld reported."He would have to be 75 pounds," Udell said. "I think at the time they weighed him he was at 90 or 92 pounds. He would have to lose 15 pounds to be in the normal range.""Normal" according to the body mass index or BMI -- a calculation every school district is using. The calculation is based on weight, height, age and gender.Their BMI is assigned a percentile ranking compared to children the same age.Dr. Lloyd Werk treats childhood obesity at Nemours. He said the BMI results should be treated as a caution not a criticism."BMI is weight divided by height squared," Werk said. "It doesn't mean that they have the condition. It means that they need a second look."The BMI screenings are required under Florida law and include all students in the first, third and sixth grade.In Seminole County, more than 1,600 students received letters citing "excess weight" that may create health risks.The letters set parents off about bad school menu options and cuts in physical education classes, Holfeld reported."They're not doing everything to completely focus on the health of my child," Solby said. "But, they are sending out letters that my child is at risk for being obese."In Orange County, roughly 4,000 of the students screened were reported at risk.Parents in that county said they didn't like the message, Holfeld reported."They felt like they were being accused of something," Orange County school health services Regina Hayward said.That prompted the county to develop a new letter explaining the screening isn't fool proof and doesn’t take muscle mass or bone structure into account."Childhood obesity is a national epidemic and we want parents to be aware that it could possibly happen to their child," Wayward said.A recent tracking of BMI averages showed an alarming percentage of boys and girls crossing the obesity threshold in Orange, Brevard, Osceola and Seminole counties.Elevated BMI in childhood predicts possible high blood pressure and diabetes, Werk said.Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
LINK BMI Calculator
Local 6 showed three children that the Florida Department of Health considers at risk for obesity.However, parents disagree."I don't feel that it's accurate," parent Solan Udell said. "I don't feel that he's overweight. You don't look at my son and say he's overweight.""It makes me feel bad for my son, I guess," parent Kiely Solby said. "I don't want anything negative said about my son. You try for the best for your children."Solby and other parents are blasting Florida's latest health screening report cards, calling the findings pure insult and bad math, Local 6's Mike Holfeld reported."He would have to be 75 pounds," Udell said. "I think at the time they weighed him he was at 90 or 92 pounds. He would have to lose 15 pounds to be in the normal range.""Normal" according to the body mass index or BMI -- a calculation every school district is using. The calculation is based on weight, height, age and gender.Their BMI is assigned a percentile ranking compared to children the same age.Dr. Lloyd Werk treats childhood obesity at Nemours. He said the BMI results should be treated as a caution not a criticism."BMI is weight divided by height squared," Werk said. "It doesn't mean that they have the condition. It means that they need a second look."The BMI screenings are required under Florida law and include all students in the first, third and sixth grade.In Seminole County, more than 1,600 students received letters citing "excess weight" that may create health risks.The letters set parents off about bad school menu options and cuts in physical education classes, Holfeld reported."They're not doing everything to completely focus on the health of my child," Solby said. "But, they are sending out letters that my child is at risk for being obese."In Orange County, roughly 4,000 of the students screened were reported at risk.Parents in that county said they didn't like the message, Holfeld reported."They felt like they were being accused of something," Orange County school health services Regina Hayward said.That prompted the county to develop a new letter explaining the screening isn't fool proof and doesn’t take muscle mass or bone structure into account."Childhood obesity is a national epidemic and we want parents to be aware that it could possibly happen to their child," Wayward said.A recent tracking of BMI averages showed an alarming percentage of boys and girls crossing the obesity threshold in Orange, Brevard, Osceola and Seminole counties.Elevated BMI in childhood predicts possible high blood pressure and diabetes, Werk said.Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
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