North Dakota Healthy Weight Council

The North Dakota Healthy Weight Council addresses issues that encompass the promotion of healthy weight. The council is composed of more than 60 members – including dietitians, nutritionists, nurses, physical activity educators, physicians and other health professionals who work in health-care institutions, schools, state agencies, nonprofit health advocacy groups and private industry.
 
The Healthy Weight Council recognizes that the number of overweight children in the United States (and in North Dakota) is increasing, which has caused many schools to consider measuring heights, weights and body mass index of their students.  If your school elects to weigh and measure students, the Healthy Weight Council recommends that you protect each child’s positive body image and self-esteem. With this in mind, the council is making available, “Weighing and Measuring Students in School Settings: A Position Paper”. This paper provides direction and insight into the issues and efficacy of taking height and weight measurements in schools. Distribution of the document is intended to help educate school staff in the process of weighing and measuring students. School staff may include and are not limited to, school nurses, school counselors, physical education teachers, family and consumer science teachers, nutritionists, dietitians and others.
 
Weighing and Measuring Students in School Settings: A Position Paper is posted at 
http://www.ndhealth.gov/nutrphyact/PositionPaper10-07.pdf
 
Read the Executive Statement for Weighing and Measuring Students
in School Settings: A Position Paper at
http://www.ndhealth.gov/nutrphyact/ExecutiveStatement10-07.pdf

To help create environments that have the potential to improve the health of all who learn and work in schools, the North Dakota Healthy Weight Council is pleased to provide toolkits for school personnel, parents, students and the community. Click here to view the toolkits.
 
For more information, Guidelines for Collecting Heights and Weights on Children and Adolescents in School Settings
These guidelines were developed by the University of California Berkeley, Center for Weight and Health, College of Natural Resources http://nature.berkeley.edu/cwh/PDFs/color_weighing.pdf

The Yale University Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity summarizes BMI reporting in schools and lists the  "pros" and "cons"  of school-based BMI Health Reports.

Liaison:
Katherine Black
kblack@nd.gov

Chair:
Katherine Black
kblack@nd.gov