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Education

Is This 10-Year-Old Too Fat? The State of Massachusetts Apparently Thinks So

Mar. 6, 2013 12:09pm Erica Ritz

10 Year Old Athlete Cameron Watson Gets Fat Letter From Massachusetts Calling Him Obese

(Photo: 41 Action News/KSHB)

The state of Massachusetts thinks 10-year-old Cameron Watson is fat, and they sent a letter to his family letting them know.

The multi-sport athlete and wrestling champion is roughly 94 pounds, but his school said in a letter that based on his BMI, the child is overweight.

“I wrestle, play football, baseball, I ride bikes, play basketball, baseball, MMA,” Cameron objected. “I know I’m not obese so I don’t really care about the letter…I just crumpled it up.”

Massachusetts public schools began sending out “fat letters” in 2010 as part of a push to fight childhood obesity, according to the New York Daily News, but people are beginning to grow frustrated.

Matt Watson, Cameron’s father, remarked: “No one wants get a letter being told they are obese…That’s a very strong, uncomfortable word and we just didn’t see it fitting with our son. He’s very active, he’s very strong.”

Cameron Watson, left, is a wrestling champion at his school. (Photo via WCVB)

Jim Lyons, a member of the state general court, agreed in an email to the New York Daily News: “I think [the BMI letters] are an overreaching by the Department of Public Health…I’ve had numerous complaints from parents considering the impact ot has on children being ostracized for being too thin or too fat. Parents are really concerned.”

Even Yahoo’s Odd News noted: “If another student called Cameron fat, they’d get in trouble. The state calls him fat? No problem.”

The Department of Public Health seems to be defending the letters, though, pointing out that they are also sent to the families of underweight students.

“Helping children maintain a healthy weight may prevent serious illness later in life,” spokeswoman Anne Roach said. “BMI screenings are intended to raise parents’ awareness about this issue.”

KSHB-TV/41 Action News has more on the story:

Cameron’s mother said she just “laughed” at the letter, adding that since Cameron was born premature, every “ounce” he’s gained has seemed like a “victory.”

A selectwoman in North Andover, Cameron’s mother is reportedly working with lawmakers to pass a bill saying: “No language … shall authorize the Department of Public Health to collect data on height, weight, or calculate a student’s Body Mass Index.”

Cameron says he’ll be fine either way, but added: “I don’t like my friends getting their feelings hurt.”

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Comments (104)

65Mustang
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:46pm
Massachusetts is as ignorant as the POS president. This is being pushed upon the union-backed schools that Obama controls…thugocracy at it’s best.

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- mtsnj
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 1:19pm
  the 2nd opinion “and he has a crappy haircut too… He’s only too fat if he’s on welfare if not, Shut the front door!
  
  Report this comment
- kalli
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 1:30pm
  Send letters to mooshelle and 2 daughters who look to be more overweight than this young boy. Extravagant vacations and lavish parties all the time will increase your bulges. FYI: Americans are paying $100,000/yr. to an official dogwalker. Need I say more?
  
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- Sine labore nihil
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 1:45pm
  I wonder if the Teachers are getting these letters also?
  
  Report this comment
- The-Monk
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 1:58pm
  Where are the BMI’s of the fatass’s who are sending out these letters?
  
  Just more CAEROGAP….. : (
  
  Report this comment
- may40
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 3:51pm
  I am so embarrassed for my state. You wouldn’t mind but a good amount of teachers, city and state workers are overweight. I want to move out of MA…any suggestions?
  
  Report this comment
- KevINtampa
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 4:23pm
  And to think, a former governor of this state was many people’s first choice for the most influential office in the world. Sigh.
  
  Report this comment
- JRook
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 4:59pm
  So the question for the insightful, always consistent group here is whether this is better or worse than Geraldo saying Trayvon Martin was asking for trouble by wearing a hoody. Yep a little bit of an integrity check here.
  
  Report this comment
- Eastinfection
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 5:19pm
  Looks like Massachusetts needs a good talking-to from Coach Mike Gundy:
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZU5AnxwIAg
  
  Report this comment
- Sparky101
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 5:21pm
  In addition to these “your Child is Fat” letters, next month they are sending home “your Daughter is Ugly” letters and just before Summer Break they send out the “Your Son is a Wuss” letters. Any child receiving more than one of these letters (i.e., Fat & Ugly, or Fat & Wussy) will receive a letter to send their child to school in New York the following school year. Special baby-poo-green buses will be provided to transport all such “failures.”
  
  Report this comment
- Eastinfection
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 5:27pm
  lol@ JROOK….
  
  really dude? way to change the subject. talk about comparing apples and oranges.
  
  lol.. nice try.
  
  Why not compare the Commonwealth of Massachusetts calling perfectly healthy kids fat to Anthony Weiner texting pics of his love Monkey? It’d would be about as relevant.
  
  Report this comment
- 000degrees
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 5:27pm
  rook…..you are a delta alpha……..
  
  Report this comment
- Listen_then_think
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 9:45pm
  @ kevin tampa you ignorant troll, Romney has not been governor for a long time so to blame the current idiots on him would be assinine. He would have absolutely done a better job as pres than the current dictator/liar.
  
  Report this comment
- jhrusky
  Posted on March 7, 2013 at 5:04pm
  BMI is not factually correct when it comes to being over/under weight in many situations. It’s as old-school as recommending to eat low/not fat foods to lose weight.
  
  Report this comment
shorelineliz
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:46pm
13TH IMAM
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:34pm
Damn You
I read your first paragraph and had to run out to CVS. M & M’s, red vines, swedish fish MMMMMmmmmmmmmm Lunch,

@13th Imam:
dude? don’t you have all that stuff on hand already in your house? I got a DRESSER DRAWER full. I never run out! Cheers!

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- 13th Imam
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 1:16pm
  Ok,,Lunch is over. the Blaze should do a thingy on what Rushbo is speaking about. Seems Twitter users are 80% DEMOCRATS and are squing(X) the perception of stats to influence low info voters. And when I went to the suggestion box, they had a “sign up for Amex credit card”. Not Cool
  
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Austin from boston
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:45pm
When it comes to the TRUTH-FREEDOM-WORKS-BLAZE & ALL OF IT’S EMPLOYEES & CUSTOMERS, WHAT is the Problem(s) with Title 18, USC-Sec. 241 & 242 ( Look It Up ) NOW !!!.>>
There is NO-TOMORROW…GOD BLESS ( NO-ONE ELSE CAN (EXCEPT CHRIST)..>>>>>>>>>>

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BARRYS_BEARD
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:40pm
Will they please send a letter to DORA / VOICE OF TREASON / CHARLES116 telling her she is too stupid?

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moreteaplease
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:37pm
If you don’t fit into some liberals neat little mold, be it psychically, mentally, politically or ideologically then there is something terribly wrong with you.

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- Mudd
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 1:51pm
  Yeah, that’s he bottom line, ignorant, busy body, know it alls.The only people who are dumber than them are thosewh take them seriously. I like what the kid said, “I just crumpled it up.” That’s how I got through public school, ignoring and crumpling. It was such a relief to graduate from high school and finally start learning something.
  
  Report this comment
kq1069
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:36pm
This shows why progressives are so dangerous and out of touch. They trumpet the safety of our children with campaigns against bullying, and then send out letters telling children they are too fat. This is how they do everything. They get behind the fight to get the votes, and undermine it with what they really believe. It’s okay for them to create political correctness and never follow it. I had a progressive vegetarian intern that worked with me. She was full blown animal rights person, at least she thought she was. She asked me what I thought about the energy issue. I told her I was for looking into all kinds of energy, but until we have something that works, we needed to drill here and use our oil. When she told me her plan, she said she would use methane gas. I asked her how she would collect the gas. She said she would put all of the cattle in a big building and collect the gas from them. I told her well I guess you not the animal lover you think. I would rather be held in a cage and then shot and put out of my misery than spend my life packed in a building farting on each other for the rest of my life. She walked away without a single word. Here is a perfect example of how the progressive mind works. They just don’t stop to think how their ideas affect things. Progressives????????????????????

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- circleDwagons
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 1:02pm
  Government the true bullies. Vegetarians are so much fun. Ask them where ice cream comes from. Read the incredients of their food.
  
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Alborn49
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:35pm
These liberal states get what they allow to govern them. Look who they held up as a hero. Edward Kennedy. I rest my case. Be glad they are just sending out letters and not coming to take your child away.

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- damnedifwedont
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 1:47pm
  I’m sure that’s next because,after all,we patriotic Americans are just too stupid and too dangerous to raise our own kids.
  
  Report this comment
myptofvu
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:32pm
Should’ve forwarded it to Chris Christie.

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Gargent_Furball
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:31pm
How in the hell can I read the Blaze when you put that silly ass commercial over the writing. ? tazo tea

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- Eastinfection
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 6:08pm
  click on the “ad choices” button in the top corner of the ad and opt out of all ads.
  
  Report this comment
shorelineliz
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:30pm
A bunch of people need to go up on into this school and cause a dam ruckus in the principal office and call a PTA meeting. Get some dam lawyers up in there on this. Y’all better fight back up there in Massachussetts or this sh%t ain’t never gonna stop. You gotta fight this crap with lawyers. Bunches of them. Best git on it.

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love the kids
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:29pm
I think it would be funny if a few ANNOMOUS letters showed up in the staff’s mailboxes pointing out their flaws.

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- shorelineliz
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:45pm
  Yeah. Round up all the FAT A## TEACHERS in the school district and send their FAt A##ES some letters, huh? HYPOCRITES! Merlot swilling, porn watching perverts! Why doesn’t “Megan and Her Two Mommies” and their FAt A##ES come under scrutiny?
  
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love the kids
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:27pm
Just a question? If a child that recieved one of these letters had parents that recieved food stamps, then shouldn’t they cut back on the foodstamps or have a legal case against the state because they are the ones feeding him??? I would get a lawyer and charge the school with Bullying.

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shorelineliz
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:27pm
In other FAT NEWS:

Burgers, Fries, Chips, Chocolate Milk Shakes, Chocolate Cake, Whipped Cream and NUTS were ordered by the White HOuse Family today for their evening dinner. AFter dinner they were scheduled to watch “Django Unchained” in the White HOuse theater room. Snacks to be served include: Pies, banana cream pies, caramel corn, junior mints, milk DUDS, chocolate covered snack cakes, The rest of the 50 pies unconsumed at dinner, chocolate covered ice cream bars, and a plethora of cheese and cheese flavored snack foods like Doritos and Cheetos.

While the movie is being watched they plan to laugh at the white people who are getting killed mercilessly by the Black actor exacting revenge and eat themselves into a coma. Obama will be signing another Executive Order during the screening sending drones throughout the United States to indiscriminately kill white people.

Moochelle Obama will be putting out bids to photographers who are able to hide her big fat ass in the next issue of Vanity Fair titled, “My fitness regime. Carrots sticks and low fat dip.”

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- 13th Imam
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:34pm
  Damn You
  I read your first paragraph and had to run out to CVS. M & M’s, red vines, swedish fish MMMMMmmmmmmmmm Lunch,
  
  Report this comment
- revron
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 4:04pm
  Meanwhile, teachers are striking because there’s a bill being voted on that demands teachers get paid and retained by performance and not tenure. Administrators, the same ones who concluded it was ok to call kids fat, bemoan the present grading structure because if Sally gets an “A” it will offend Johnny, who only got a “C”. The inconsistency is laughable if it wasn’t for the clear purpose behind it. Grading kids is offensive and calling a kid fat is ok because it serves their social engineering propoganda.
  
  Report this comment
RJJinGadsden
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:26pm
Massachusetts the home of Idiocracy! Been there all too many times while stationed at Ft Drum to visit friends at Devons back in the ’80s. They have just dug their hole deeper.

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- DLV
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 9:14pm
  Yaaaa I live in mass. People here are incredibly mean and stupid
  
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Just_Us2
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:25pm
BMI is a scam used by life/health insurance companies to increase rates. It is a lazy catch all that punishes anyone who has muscle mass. Body fat is a much better indicator of obesity. But health is not the concern of the state….it is control….because they know what’s best. If you REALLY want to get a handle on obesity, why not limit the kinds of food that can be bought with an EBT card to low fat, low calorie, fruits and veggies. But that’s racist….so you can’t do that……in fact anything that makes sense is racist.

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- Brooke Lorren
  Posted on March 7, 2013 at 1:12am
  I would agree that BMI is a terrible way to measure obesity. They used to have height/weight charts, and replaced it with BMI, saying it was better. Umm… BMI is almost exactly the same thing. You have bodybuilders that are “morbidly obese” according to these BMI charts, yet they have less than 1% body fat.
  
  I don’t know where my kids are on the BMI scale, but my dd works out about 10 hours a week, and has a lot of muscle mass. I don’t know if she is “obese” or not on the BMI scale, but she has very little body fat.
  
  Report this comment
Watcher1952
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:25pm
I agree with you Cavallo…..the BMI is a crock…… I am in the Health Care Field and we are not using it anymore…. Mass is taking after New York……the parents need to have a meeting with the school officials and see which one of them meets the standards…. I’ll bet not many if any Americans need to start taking charge of their futures and get these people out of our lives….

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shin
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:23pm
muscle weighs more than fat. BMI index is only good for models who don’t gain enough muscle for it to matter. A person should weigh between 2 and 3 pounds per inch unless they are a toddler, midget, or giant.

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- circleDwagons
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 1:15pm
  That is what I told my doctor. He replied that I was still fat.
  
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shorelineliz
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:22pm
In other news:

Pies for Moochelle Obama’s big fat Pie Hole were seen being delivered by 50 trucks to the back door of the White House kitchen for her daily rations.

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truemedia
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:20pm
This is a WASTE of MONEY and NONE of the Government’s businesses…Oh sorry OBAMACARE makes it Gov business

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huey6367
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:20pm
I was awwtching a show the other night on TV and they were talking about a 10 year old girl who weighed 347 lbs. That’s fat. I don’t care who you are. The problem? The mother has no idea how prepare a healthy meal. Her brother was a tub, as well, and had a tantrum when he could not have a second helping – of fried chicken. It starts at home.

This kid is not fat but I guess this is Massachusetts. They loved Ted Kennedy.

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EQUALIZER
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:19pm
Muscle weighs more than fat, i guess the education system does not teach that.

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- whitealaskan
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 2:10pm
  BMI is a load of crap Arnold Schwarzenegger’s competing weight was around 235, hes 6’2″ that means his BMI was 30.2, according to the chart that’s obese. What a stupid way to decide if someone is fat or not. BMI only looks at body mass compared to height not body composition.
  
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timola
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:19pm
” ♫ Oh where oh where is common sense, Oh where oh where can it be? .. ♫ “

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CatB
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:19pm
Get your kids out of these government indoctrination centers … home school … do whatever you can … starve the beast of union teachers and government indoctrination.

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banjarmon
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:17pm
The GOVERNMENT is too FAT…We need to get rid of the FATHEADS at the top in the WH First!!!

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Cavallo
Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:12pm
BMI is a crock. The majority of athletic sportsmen would be considered obese. Muscle weighs more than fat. It’s a cheap, quick, inaccurate measure.

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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:32pm
  CAVALLO, Back in the early ’80s I knew a fellow soldier who was a body builder who won many of the contests in USAEUR and his unit was after him all of the time about BMI and wanted him to loose weight. He finally got out and went on to win a number body builder contests all around the globe. Saw his photos show up on the cover of a number of related magazines. Yeah, I agree that the BMI standards are very much a crock. Much like the kid this story is about is one helluva fatso too.
  
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- AxelPhantom
  Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:54pm
  You hit it on the head. Muscle weighs more than fat per square inch and increases the mass of the body—BMI is BS
  
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