Education Leaders Meet to Combat Student Obesity at National Symposium

Little Rock, Arkansas - State and local education leaders are convening at the Clinton Presidential Center to review, amend and renew their ongoing efforts to establish school policies that promote student health and prevent obesity. The National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) is hosting the two-day event in collaboration with the National School Boards Association (NSBA).

"Without comprehensive education, the youth obesity epidemic could well worsen, causing physical, social, and emotional harm to millions of children-harm that will follow them into adulthood. State and local leaders have the policy levers to address this issue, but successful interventions require knowledge, teamwork, and careful planning-and that's what this symposium is all about," said Brenda Welburn, NASBE Executive Director.

Conference participants are part of individual state "teams" that attended a NASBE school health planning symposium last year. The teams are composed of a state board of education member, the state director of school health programs, the state school food service director, and a state school board association member. The teams will review their progress in meeting their state's previously established school health goals, add physical activity and vulnerable populations into the plans, review the latest research in obesity prevention, share their experiences and hear from national experts.

Today, more than two-thirds of U.S. adults and one-third of American youth are either obese or overweight. The acceleration of the epidemic among children is especially alarming. During the past four decades, the obesity rate for children ages 6 to11 has jumped almost fivefold (from 4 percent to 19 percent) and has more than tripled for adolescents ages 12 to 19 (from 5 percent to 17 percent).This trend foreshadows the greater rates of disease, disability and higher health care costs our nation will face as the current generation of children-the most overweight in U.S. history-grows into adulthood.

Support for this meeting is provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as part of its Leadership for Healthy Communities national program and in cooperation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Adolescent and School Health (CDC/DASH).

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NASBE represents America's state and territorial boards of education and is the professional association of state board members.  NASBE's primary mission is to strengthen state leadership in education policymaking and assure responsible lay governance of public education.

Leadership for Healthy Communities is a $10 million national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that supports state and local government leaders in efforts to reduce childhood obesity through public policies that promote active living, healthy eating and access to healthy foods.