The Nebraska Family Forum supports Sen. Beau McCoy’s Legislative Bill 29.
LB 29 amends state statute 79-248, reversing the authority previously given to DHHS to “inspect” public school children for any condition they wish.
Currently, 79-248 mandates that school districts cause children to be inspected for sight, hearing and dental. At some point, the statute was amended to read “or other conditions as prescribed by the Department of Health and Human Services.” These 13 words give DHHS the authority to “inspect” our children for anything they want simply by writing a regulation and telling the schools they must implement it.
Beginning with the 2014-15 school year, DHHS decided to inspect children for height, weight and BMI--very personal medical information normally discussed between a child, parent and doctor. This is an issue that usually doesn’t directly affect school or require accommodations, such as hearing or vision might. But that doesn’t matter; all DHHS has to do is pass a new regulation and let the schools know they’re required to carry it out, at the school district’s expense.
The collection of BMI data in the public schools poses several concerns:
First of all, it is widely known that BMI alone is an inaccurate measure of health, particularly for athletes. This is certainly the case with my own son, who is considered overweight despite being in excellent physical shape and despite every one of his ribs being visible. My son is a perfect example that BMI can often be a meaningless number.
Secondly, weight is a very personal thing. That’s why many of us lie about it on our driver’s licenses! But according to the DHHS regulation any “competent person” can do the BMI checks, including other kids’ parents who are not bound by HIPAA or FERPA privacy laws.
There was a fiasco at Millard South when 10th graders were lined up and weighed and then their results were discussed within earshot of other kids. With the excessive focus on “being skinny” in our society these days, teenage girls already struggle with body image issues and eating disorders, and this type of thing is just a disaster waiting to happen.
Third, there is no clarity on where the data is going or what it is being used for. There seems to be no plan for targeted intervention for kids who are overweight or underweight. I contend the BMI regulation is just data collection, plain and simple. Although this is only speculation on my part, something is very odd about this particular regulation. Why can we opt our kids out of vaccines, which could be a potential public health hazard, but we can’t opt our kids out of BMI collection? You don’t have to get your child the polio vaccine, but you’re forced to have his BMI put into a database? Something’s wrong with this picture.
In my own school district, nothing is even being done with the numbers that DHHS claims are being used to “help” kids. They’re not notifying parents or students of the results, they are just putting the information into a database. What is the purpose of that?
I read the regulation located on DHHS’s website and it only adds to the confusion. It appears that since DHHS claims there is a childhood obesity epidemic in the United States, they need to collect data to show that there’s a childhood obesity epidemic in the United States. (Yes, you read that right.) Since DHHS is stating as fact that there’s a childhood obesity epidemic, doesn’t that mean they already have the data they need? If they truly need more aggregated data, that is readily available through the medical community. We don’t need to line kids up at school and have some “competent volunteer” enter their private medical information into a school database.
The fallacy of BMI as a health indicator, and the questions about the data collection aside, the most crucial issue for Nebraska parents is that carte blanche has been given to DHHS to screen our kids for anything they want, for whatever reason they want, and they can use the public schools to do it. DHHS can mandate these screenings regardless of the parent’s wishes and with no opportunity for a parent to opt out. In this case, I believe DHHS is using the schools as a vehicle to collect personal medical data on our children.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO SUPPORT LB 29:
1. Testify in support of the bill on Tuesday, March 10 at 1:30 PM in Lincoln.
2. Contact each member of the Education Committee and tell them you support LB 0029 because it:
Returns authority for decisions regarding medical screenings/care back to parents.
Removes the unlimited authority given to DHHS to screen school children for any condition the agency chooses, even without parental permission.
3. Also contact your own state senator and ask him or her to support moving LB 0029 out of the Education Committee to the floor for a vote.
4. Copy Sen. Beau McCoy on each e-mail sent:
Members of the Education Committee:
Sen. Kate Sullivan, Chair
402-471-2631
Sen. Rick Kolowski, Vice Chair
402-471-2327
Roy Baker
402-471-2620
Sen. Tanya Cook
402-471-2727
Sen. Mike Groene
402-471-2729
Sen. Adam Morfeld
402-471-2720
Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks
402-471-2633
Sen. David Schnoor
402-471-2625
