Russell Williams
Well-Known Member
I will be attending a Board of Education policy committee meeting tomorrow. One of the items I will be participating in developing is a school wellness policy. I have read through a variety of materials that have been provided to me. I have read statements such as: "poor nutrition, physical inactivity, and the increasing prevalence of weight problems among students are beginning to take an economic toll on our nation's schools."; "student absenteeism can therefore have a negative impact on the school's bottom line."; "children who are overweight are reported to suffer from lower self-esteem, depression, and/or fear of being bullied, or teased (especially in physical education classes), each of which represent additional reasons why overweight children may miss more school.": "there is little doubt that overweight students face additional barriers to learning that a likely lead to poor academic achievement.": "it is reasonable to assume that being overweight can call students to miss more class time.": "there is a strong association between being overweight in kindergarten and behavior problems such as anxiety, loneliness, low self-esteem, sadness, anger, arguing, and fighting."; "Pennsylvania schools mandate body mass calculations."
The whole thrust of all of this seems to be the idea that if the Board of Education can find a way to force fat children to get thin the fat children will become better students, fail less, be better liked, and the Board of Education will save money.
The three members of the Board of Education's policy committee will be reviewing the staff's proposed wellness policy. The three members of the Board of Education's policy committee will discuss the information available and decide what kind of policy to vote out of committee so that it can be considered by the full Board of Education.
I am one of the three policy committee members and therefore I get to not only talk I get to vote.
It should be interesting,
Russell Williams
The whole thrust of all of this seems to be the idea that if the Board of Education can find a way to force fat children to get thin the fat children will become better students, fail less, be better liked, and the Board of Education will save money.
The three members of the Board of Education's policy committee will be reviewing the staff's proposed wellness policy. The three members of the Board of Education's policy committee will discuss the information available and decide what kind of policy to vote out of committee so that it can be considered by the full Board of Education.
I am one of the three policy committee members and therefore I get to not only talk I get to vote.
It should be interesting,
Russell Williams
