Georgia's elementary school children will be weighed and measured twice a year by school officials under a bill that passed the Senate Friday.
The legislation requires schools to track kids' body mass index, a combination of height and weight used to determine whether the child is healthy. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Joseph Carter (R-Tifton) requires that schools post the aggregate BMI information on their Web sites and follow state regulations on offering physical education classes.
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Carter said the bill would work much like test scores, with schools reporting their data so parents could check out how they measure up to other area schools. Children would be weighed in a confidential office setting and their personal data would not become public, he said.
"Sally, step into the office, step up on the scale, that's about as invasive as it gets," he said. More than one in three kids in Georgia is overweight, he said. "The presence of childhood obesity is staggering."
Arkansas was the first state to implement such a rule, in 2003. The bill, which mirrors legislation in several other states, passed 37 to 13 after a heated debate.
Sen. Preston Smith (R-Rome) said "the long arm of the government" should stop reaching into peoples' private lives.
He said worries that schools' will pressure children to lose weight and stigmatize them, mimicking what he worried school officials would say: "Come on, pick it up fat kid, we're not going to get money if you don't!""
As he left the podium, refusing to engage in a debate, Sen. Renee Unterman (R-Buford) who supports the bill, shouted "chicken!" at him.
It's not the first time lawmakers have tried to take up childhood obesity. Carter introduced a bill in 2006 that would have required more PE for Georgia elementary and middle schoolers, but the measure failed.

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By mom of 3
Mar 16, 2009 4:53 PM | Link to this
This is not an excuse to bash public schools. Trust me, the teachers there want to TEACH, not weigh children. There is a problem with obesity but this is not the answer. Leave to the politicians to butt into areas they don't need to. I was never overweight in school but I had a friend who was. This would have put her over the edge. This should not be a school function. This is between the pediatrician and the parent.
It seems we have many other pressing needs in Georgia that should take precidence.
By A disgusted Georgian
Mar 16, 2009 4:42 PM | Link to this
Shame, shame, shame. They have no right. I would not allow it to be done to me and I certainly wouldn't put my child through such public humiliation. This better be outlawed or overturned. The government needs to bud out of our lives.
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By EDK
Mar 26, 2008 12:43 PM | Link to this
It is a shame that Georgia has sunk to a new low, but you see what party controls these decisions. If this is the case for children, then school boards, faculties, all staff, police, firemen, local and state officials, preachers and any and all folks that are roll models to children should have to be weighed and put on public display! It is only fair!
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By Rose
Mar 6, 2008 9:51 PM | Link to this
Insanity. Scary insanity. My four children were never in government schools for reasons like this. None of my children are overweight, but it is not the Nanny State's business to weigh and track anybody's children. This should be causing a huge outcry from the public, but I am afraid that we are so dumbed down and so willing to let the government tell us what to do that most people are not even going to question behavior or policy like this. My God, help us. Kids are shooting up schools; most of the teens I see in the public schools are anti-social and completely peer-oriented, and most don't know a thing about what it means to work hard. Our country is in for major trouble the next 10-15 years, and the government is going to come in and start monitoring children's weight? The problem in this country is that parents have abdicated their responsibility for raising their own children. The government has become the nursemaid. I revolt!
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