The figures are in. According to the obesity statistics of the Center for Disease Control and prevention: 18% of adolescents age 12-19; 20% of children age 6-11; and 10% of children age 2-5 years are obese! This accounts for about 12.5million children between the ages of 2 and 19 years. With obesity being defined as a body mass index at or above the 95th percentile for children of the same age and sex, obesity in children is clearly a concern for parents as well as schools. This makes the development of programs for prevention of childhood obesity in school a formidable goal.

Though the economy may be on the road to recovery, public school funding is not. Across the nation, schools are being asked to make do with less money in an effort to control school district debt caused by funding cuts at both the state and national levels. School funding and its issues have been heard at the polls as voters must decide whether or not to approve tax increases or changes in distribution of tax revenues in order to help stem the tide of massive budget cuts. In Ohio this past spring nearly 44% of the tax issues on the ballots were for schools. School funding issues are a major concern for administrators and educators.

No child left behind.

That is the current educational thrust created by Federal Lawin 2001. The question is does it include those bound to wheelchairs? Education for all cannot be guaranteed when the school has no wheelchair access and makingsome schools wheelchair accessible can be an expensive proposition. Wheelchair bound students can receive an education comparable to their peers, however not necessarily in their local school or charter school of their choice.

Encarta Dictionary defines homework as: “schoolwork done at home, schoolwork that students do outside of class or after school at home.” While we cannot actually demand that the work be done at home, through good preparation we can try to guarantee that our students are actually completing the homework and not someone else.