Starting this year, Georgia schools will be testing children’s weight and whether they are overweight, underweight, or at a healthy weight. Actually, the state is having healthcare providers or health departments check and report it to the school. They are doing it by adding a weight assessment to the standard form (Form 3300) for vision, hearing, and dental assessments, which is required for entry into Georgia schools. They are calling it a “Nutrition Assessment” but it is really just a measurement of whether the child is a healthy weight or not.
Georgia’s plan differs somewhat from that of other states where the schools have tested children at school and sent a letter home to parents with the results. This has been highly controversial. In Georgia, it is healthcare providers or health departments who do the measurements and report to the school. It is unclear at this point what the schools are going to do with the information, or what they hope to achieve through this testing. Furthermore, children will only be tested when entering school, either in kindergarten or when transferring into public school in Georgia.
These changes been rather quietly implemented. There was not much information passed on to doctors about this change. I doubt many parents are aware of it at all. The law was passed in 2013 but there seems to have been very little publicity about it or notice until health departments were informed a few months ago. The DPH website has no information about it, and the law simply states that it will be added to the hearing, vision, and dental form.
I wholeheartedly agree that doctors should be testing children’s weight status, and reporting it to parents, on a regular basis, hopefully at yearly checkups, and treating children who are overweight according to recommended guidelines. However, I am not convinced that the state needs to require doctors to do the measurements and to report it to school systems, especially when it has not been announced what they plan to do with the information.