If one wanted to blog observations — the more daily and more local the better — the time to start imprinting the habit couldn’t be better than one’s state Legislature’s general session. Forking pickles from a bucket.
I hate easy pickin’s. So I’m hoping to just focus on matters that just might become law, not the bass-ackward bills that’ll never get past a committee chair, or the goof-ball quotes from purported debate.
The previous governor, though a limited-government Republican, pushed through a measure in 2003 for all Arkansas public schools to gauge if any children were obese, using the body-mass index, and inform their parents. The new governor, a Democrat, says without specifics that the law should be softened. A repeal of a part of that law was passed in the House Education Committee 15-5 this week and thus both houses may approve it. Fodder.
The new bill is sponsored by a local state rep and has been reported in this local newspaper and that local newspaper.
Is worrying about the health of children a concern of the schools? I can see how the schools should stick to teaching the basics and leaving nutrition to the parents, but if the parents don’t cut off the snacks, who will? More importantly, who will subsidize the health care needs as chunky children mature into enormous adults with bad blood, hearts and insulin levels?
I have snippy questions, but all the reporters thought of them, and listened closely at the hearing for answers.
Sponsor Rep. Keven Anderson, R-Rogers, cites the principle of schools should just education, the complaints of parents and the stigma of the BMI reports.
In hearings, “Dr. Gary Wheeler [said] the screenings aren’t the cause of overweight children’s teasing. ‘They’re not being stigmatized because of the BMI report. These kids live with stigma 365 days a year.'”
“Anderson … said a legislative estimate placed [the statewide cost of testing] at $ 175, 000, which he said was mostly for postage for sending the reports home. He said officials at two schools estimated the total cost at $4 a student.” Four dollars per student per year must be one of the cheapest education expenditures around.
Retired school nurse “Wanda Wells … testified the [BMI] test took a lot of time. She said school nurses already do vision, hearing and scoliosis tests on students, and are required to make sure every student’s immunization records are accurate.” She also noted nurses also need time to care for wounds, asthma attacks and lice.
The statistical improvement in child obesity is slight so far, but even if it remains negligible, isn’t it better, and cheaper for all of us, than letting children snack themselves into premature death?
The Razorbacks need hefty linebackers, but they also need lithe receivers. And the rest of the UA campus needs lean torsos to manage all that walking. -30-
