I am so mad! I just got a letter from the kindergarten saying that my daughter is overweight and is at risk for high blood pressure, etc. She is soooo skinny that her ribs stick out! WTH is this all about? I know in my mind that dd is not overweight, but it still bothers me!

Anyone else get a letter like this?

I'd be mad, too! I'd guess most likely it was sent to you by mistake somehow, but the greater issue is what qualifications do they have to be doling out medical advice to anyone?? It's one thing when they do hearing and vision screening where they bring in qualified professionals to administer them, and then send you a note saying based on their screening that your child should be evaluated by a doctor, but not to be giving anything remotely like a diagnosis and treatment advice! That's up to your pediatrician to determine.

I've had issues with my kids schools over similar things, them practicing medicine without a license, and sloppy, sloppy record keeping. The first was when I was pregnant and there was an epidemic of 5th disease in my dd's class and the teacher didn't tell anyone. 5th disease will kill an unborn baby, and is dangerous to people with sickle-cell or with a compromised immune system. My OB told me to take her out of school immediately and I had to be tested and retested over the next month to see if I had contracted it (fortuantely we didn't). When I called the school to ask why parents had not been informed, they argued with me that it was a harmless disease, even after I told them how dangerous it could be for some people. I told her I thought my OB was more qualified than she (the principal) was to make that determination! She finally grudgingly agreed to consult with the public health dept. Well, guess what, now they have to send out notices if there is an outbreak of 5th disease.

I've also had the school nurse send me a nasty notice saying they were kicking my son out of school if he did not have his physical, immunization record, and eye exam within 2 days. I went to the school and of course all those things were right in the front of his file They have also lost birth certificates, and send me nasty truancy notices when my dd had only missed 3 days, and had notes for all 3!

We got a note from the school once, saying my grandson was underweight. I just sent back a note stating that his doctor was well aware of his weight and had no concerns about it. We never heard anything else about it.

I guess they are just trying to help, but it is irritating to have them advising you about your children's health, as if you aren't taking care of them.

If I knew how to blur out her face I'd post a pic and show you how ridiculous it is. DD is seriously skinny, but super tall. If they think she's overweight I hate to see what they say about ds.

I understand that they are trying to do a good thing, but isn't that the purpose of requiring the child to have a physical w/ their ped before entering kindergarten?

I've seen your pics on Facebook and there is no way she is overweight. If that's considered being overweight, then I must be morbidly obese!

If you look at her Halloween pics on FB, she's wearing a midriff baring top and is obviously not overweight.

my son came home from school once and said they told him and his friend the same thing, never taking in to consideration that these boys were body building and were solid walls of muscle. He was about 14 or 15 at the time.

I have to love my 80-year-old mother-in-law's attitude. She would never allow her kids to be tested by a school nurse for ANYTHING! When it was vision screening time, she would not sign to allow it to be done, but she DID make an appt with the eye doctor and take her kids herself to have them checked. Her attitude was, "If they knew anything about medical and health issues, they'd have a real job and not work for a school system!"

And I had the same issue with my daughter's medical records. They give me a form to have my doctor fill out. Doctor fills it out and we return it. Then school calls me because doctor, who filled out THE SCHOOL'S FORM!!! ..... didn't put the info on doctor's letterhead. So I have to go BACK to the dr's office and ask them to put the same info on letterhead and fax to the school nurse. Dr's office mails me the hard copy showing me it was faxed. 3 weeks later, school nurse calls to tell me she still needs that form. When I tell her it was faxed, she rechecks the file and says, "oh yeah, it's in here."

I have only 2 more years of dealing with public school systems and I am DONE! I can't freakin' wait. So many times I want to tell them where to shove their gov't issued brochures, which is where it seems they get all of their medical "expertise"!

You know, the more I think about it, the more this bothers me. If it happened to my daughter, I'd raise heck.

How dare they tell a child, especially a girl, that she's fat because her weight doesn't correspond to some stupid chart they have, when she is obviously not?? Our society has enough problems with the media making girls/women think they should be thin as a rale, making them feel fat when they are perfectly healthy and normal. Now the school is telling them that??? They are way out of line, and way beyond the scope of their expertise & responsiblity.

I'd be livid! From what everyone is saying shes obviously not overweight in the least bit. But just for fun I'd have to send a letter back like this....

Dear whoever,

You know....I have been thinking the same thing myself. Im starting to wonder if it's caused by the fried chicken, potato chips and candy bars I've been feeding her for dinner. Maybe you could enlighten me on what would cause this.


Thank you for your concern,
me

That is absurd!! I would be ripping mad if the school sent home a letter like that..I mean what and who gives them the right to say whether a child is over weight or not..I think that here in Canada anyway that would be on the border of a charter of rights case and a parent could take that to court and win....I would expect maybe a letter or advice from a Doctor but not the school.They are very careful here not to say or do anything to infringe on people's rights,religion,sexual gender etc...

I bet they just pulled all the kids in weighed them but didn't take into consideration height. Then went through afterwards and any child over the weight on some chart was sent the letter. But yes a total waste of teaching time!

I think these check ups vary state by state, district by district. Our school doesn't think these things up on their own-we get mandates from the state, the state gets told what to do by the national board. so- someone up there in charge listens to a sound byte that says-there is an epidemic of overweight Americans that is going to bankrupt the medical insurance companies and before you know it the schools are now checking blood pressure and BMIs on all the kids. So, the kids blood pressure is fine, but mine is going up! We now have a rigid nutritional policy in our school-no sugar, no fat type of thing-but the cafeteria can serve all the artificial color, flavorings and preservatives you can add to food. Go figure!

Sometimes you just have to grin and bear it. When I was in college we all had to fill out a form about our eating habits and daily intake of food. I had not learned to lie on forms. So, I was instructed that I had to go to several classes attended mostly by overweight students to learn not to "over eat" The fact that although I am less than 5 feet tall I did weigh only 82 pounds That didn't seem to factor in. yes I was eating more than average but I was spending 3 to 4 hours in the gym every day training in gymnastics! Hello-muscle weighs more that fat!
So, college thought I was too fat and my insurance company didn't want to insure me because I weighed less that 90 pounds-all at the same time.

My daughter always says-they have a right to their opinion, no matter how stupid it is! Just laugh.

Well, I hope I don't regret telling my mom about this. (I am sure that I will.) She's got her Master's in Nutrition and Dietetics, working on her doctorate, and has every designation and certification that you can have in the field of nutrition. And if you've been around a while, you've probably read my posts on how she has "issues". I told her, and now she is livid, and is writing a letter. She said she was looking for someone to fight with! I know that no good will come from this.

obviously they made a mistake *or* they didn't take her height into consideration. i think you are lucky, my dd is in kindergarten and i *wish* they would be more concerned about the kids weight/health, etc. my dd gets sugar about once a week from me, however, her school is constantly giving the kids treats, cookies, popcorn, juice, and a bunch of other stuff that i don't agree with. i have been contemplating on whether i should give the principal a call about this...but at the same time, i don't want my kid singled out either.

I would send a letter to them w/ a copy of the letter thst they sent me and let them know that my lawyer is looking inot the matter. I would also let them know that they are now promoting a poor self body in my K age daughter.

I am not one to let things just slide. I have a DS that is tall and skinny. I just asked him if he was ever weighed by the nurse? He told me yes. This isi the first I am hearing about it and he is in the 3rd grade. I will definitely be looking into this.

How dare they send some crap like that to your home. I say let you mother at them. If she can't protect her granddaughter who can.

Ah yes, the wonderful BMI testing. For anyone who may not know, they take this little thing (not sure of the proper name) and pinch a little of skin under your arm and then tell you that you're overweight. Actually, I'm not sure they still do it this way, but that's how it was done in the past. At my son's school, you have to sign a consent form before it can be done. I had always signed it in the past, and would always get the dreaded "your child may be at risk of being overweight" letter. I finally decided enough is enough, and for the past 2 years, I would check 'no' on the form. It didn't really bother me that they were doing it, what bothered me was the fact that the same school that gives them double cheese burgers and chips for lunch and lets them buys sodas twice a day was telling them they were overweight. Does that make ANY sense?

I'll have to see if they had us sign a form, I don't remember signing one, but with the mountain of kindergarten paperwork I may have just forgotten about it. I'm definitely not going to okay it if it's optional.

One of my friends here was told her son was over weight. He is, but that wasn't the issue. To me, I do not see what business they have saying it ! The one that said it is a physical therapist. I have been hearing of schools informing CPS of this sort of thing also. I would be very direct with them, even snippy about them saying it. That is absurb..
Sarah

I just have to say- enough with the bashing of school. If you don't like what's happening at your school- CHANGE IT - instead of always bitching about it.

As for the outbreak of fifths disease- you do know that NO one is allowed to disclose illness? It's against HIPPA laws.

Finally, as for the quote "they would have real jobs and not work for a school district."
I have 3 degrees- I take my JOB as a teacher very seriously. It's VERY insulting to say that it's not a "real job". I guess people who get compared to wal-mart cake makers might understand that. Unless, ANYONE can make and decorate a cake?

I have to say, I am so sick of some of this HIPPA crap. Hubby is in the medical field, so I know exactly what it's about, but I think they take it too far sometimes. I would be very upset if there were a serious illness going around my child's school and they weren't allowed to tell me about it because of HIPPA. A couple of years ago a few schools in my area had outbreaks of staph. It was so bad at one school, they actually closed the school for 2 days to clean it. Believe me, EVERYONE around here knew about it. As far as trying to change the school's policies, the BMI testing is mandated by the state, so just going to the school isn't going to accomplish anything.