Testing BMI of Schoolchildren

A recent note from RWJ about New York testing the BMI of schoolchildren got me thinking... From the note:

The screening requirement currently applies only to children just starting school and to those in second, fourth, seventh and 10th grades. Physicians will test students as they come in for a health certificate, which is mandatory for public school enrollment in New York. Data then will be passed to schools and the state Department of Health, unless parents choose to exclude their child from the process.

The part about that I find interesting is parents being able to exclude their children from the process. I'm curious if parents will be able to refuse the BMI test itself, having the data passed to the state Department of Health, or...?

I applaud the effort to do a better job tracking childhood obesity trends, I think this is a great idea. But I also wonder how parents being able to opt out of this might affect the data. I've read interesting articles (in the mainstream press) that include comments from parents about how they don't want to hear from a doctor that their child might be overweight. I can certainly understand that it's a sensitive topic, but I'd have to guess it's just that kind of parent who might opt out of this type of program.

In any event, I think it'll be interesting to see what new knowledge comes of this, and how it might improve efforts in New York to combat childhood obesity.