The Wareham School Committee voted 4–1 Thursday to urge delegates to the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC) to support a resolution asking that BMI screening not be a required practice in public schools.

The resolution — submitted to the MASC delegate assembly by the Grafton School Committee and described at the meeting as asking for the removal of BMI screening requirements for public schools — drew a mix of testimony from committee members and parents about the measure’s clinical value and possible harms.

One committee speaker who identified herself as Tracy said she opposed school BMI screening based on personal experience: “I don’t think it has any right in schools,” she told the committee, recounting that her child faced shame and long-term trauma from BMI-related attention. Tracy said parents should handle body-mass issues through pediatricians and nutrition professionals.

Other speakers acknowledged different perspectives. A committee member who spoke for school nurses said nurses view BMI screening as a useful data point and emphasized that students are allowed to opt out and that school health staff try to manage screenings sensitively. Another committee member noted that BMI calculators vary and can be adjusted for ethnicity and body composition in clinical settings.

After discussion, a motion asking the committee to support the resolution at the MASC delegate assembly was made and seconded; the committee voted 4 in favor, 1 opposed, 0 abstentions. The transcript does not record the names of individual yes/no votes. Committee members framed the vote as a request that MASC lobby against required BMI screening rather than an operational change to local health services.

Speakers also raised broader concerns about body image, eating disorders and whether school-based screening meaningfully informs student health interventions. One committee member referenced data showing a rising rate of adolescent eating disorders and said public-health approaches should avoid shaming students.

The committee’s approval will be carried to the MASC delegate assembly; any statewide policy change would be decided there. The committee did not change local health or physical-education practices at the meeting.