(a) LEAs are authorized to implement a program that identifies public school children who are at risk for obesity. Those schools systems that choose to carry out such a program shall:

• (1) Have sufficient number of current school staff or school volunteers trained in taking a body mass index (BMI) to meet the requirements of this part. The department of health shall develop and provide training materials to the LEAs;

• (2) Complete a body mass index for age (BMI-for-age), as defined by the centers for disease control and prevention, on every child enrolled for classes in the school system whose parents or guardians have not requested exclusion from the testing; and

• (3) Provide each student's parents or guardians with a confidential health report card that represents the result of the child's BMI-for-age screening, along with basic educational information on what the results mean and what the parents or guardians should do with the information.

(b) School systems that carry out the program shall transmit the results of the testing for each student to the department of health.

(a) The department of health, with the assistance of the department of education, shall provide a framework for LEAs to use in developing a program that shall include, but not be limited to:

• (1) Providing standard practices for maintaining confidentiality;

• (2) Providing necessary information to LEAs annually, explaining the method for determining a BMI-for-age and the tables that should be used to determine if a child may be at risk of being overweight, or if the child is overweight or underweight based upon the BMI-for-age.

• (3) Developing and disseminating to LEAs annually a form that should be used to report the student results from individual schools and from the LEA to the department of health;

• (4) Developing and disseminating a sample notification to all LEAs that can be used as the model for the health report card to notify parents or guardians of the child's BMI results, along with basic educational information on what the results mean, the applicable health risks for a child who is overweight and what the parents or guardians should do with the information; and

• (5) Working with representatives from the department of education, state health professional associations and national health related organizations in the design of the form and sample notification.

Schools where aggregate data suggests that high rates of overweight children may be a problem are encouraged to expand existing or implement new school-based nutrition and physical activity programs designed to reduce those rates. The effectiveness of these results could be determined by completing a BMI-for-age on the school's students whose parents or guardians have not requested exclusion from the testing at the end of the school year.

These guidelines describe requirements for LEAs to condcut health screenings, including BMI screening, for students.