Florida schools have begun sending letters to some parents warning them that their kids are too fat.
The first letters were sent to parents of kindergartners and first-graders in Hillsborough County schools in the Tampa Bay area. Children in the sixth and seventh grades are also targets this year, The Tampa Tribune reported Monday.
The program is optional for high school freshmen.
About 45,000 letters are being sent informing parents of results from obesity screenings under way in Hillsborough County schools.
The county is part of a statewide project doing body mass index measurements known as BMI. A team of nurses goes from school to school to take height and weight measurements to calculate the BMI.
The Florida Department of Health is overseeing the program under a new state law. The program has been run on an experimental basis since 2000, but this year is going into full operation.
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