Follow the money... would schools save on insurance rates or project lower likelihood of being successfully sued if one or more of their students drops dead... from ANY cause?

or is this just another nanny-state attempt to protect EVERYONE FROM EVERYTHING?

Whenever I see something like this, the first thing I think of is a single question: "Why is this 'necessary' now, but wasn't 'necessary fifty years ago, or a hundred?"

Checking kids for potentially deadly heart defects (which are as common as the cold, presumably,) is the responsibility of parents and the doctors they choose (while they still can.)

Certainly gym coaches too have a responsibility to evaluate their charges' physical condition and capabilities in any given activity, but the key concept to employ is: "within reason." This isn't.

The second thing I think when I see this irrationalism-on-steroids is that the only real solution is to end public education, in total.

Probably. Justifiably??

cynic

Just think of the opportunities for the school Adderol dealer.

why can't the parent pull their child out? Have you checked into what tax credits are available to those homeschooling?

Big brother? Wards of the state, automatons, robots... made me think of this song. For your listening pleasure...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td56XAHxL...

I guess that problem with Public Education in general. A parent can't pull thier student out of the school to protest the policy. Having said that, I think the policy is reasonable from a safety prospective. It is also not too intrusive. I think that is like asking kids to wear gear for a football game.

You are quite correct, Lnxjenn, about the detection of the murmur, but if one has a heart rate monitor on, then at least you know if something is amiss prior to sudden death.

Nope... Intrusive and controlling...

""It will be a large portion of their grade, because we want to grade them on what they're actually doing in our class," Dubuque Schools Athletic and Wellness Director Amy Hawkins told ABC News. Teachers will use the information collected from the heart rate monitors to write report cards. "It really takes the opinion out of things," Hawkins said. "You know it's not really 'I think your kid is doing this and this in class.'"

I wonder if they'll combine that info with the video footage from the locker rooms as well...

this will get the kids ready for pace makers if they live long enough, otherwise this is fringing on insanity.
maybe its time to go into the heart monitor manufacturing business.

From the article:
"Later this school year, the district plans to collect data about activity levels and even sleep patterns for a week at a time."

good points.learning to use heart rate monitors can be very helpful. But I think it's flawed logic to say teh gym teacher is looking at the monitors' performance for every student and getting an objective perspective as to their effort in class. it's just as objective to have everyone do 30 situps, run laps, 10 pushups whatever. Does the Army make everyone wear heart rate monitors in basic? Somehow I think it's a cop out on the part of the teachers (if this is their real reason). PE is bgus anyway. Why should it be graded like other clasees. Pass/Fail that's what I say. Personally, I was the Fail type. I skipped gym more often than not to go help my friends who were the editors of the yearbook get material. I was a dancer who worked out most nights of the week for several hours. I didn't want to risk twisting an ankle or spend an hour at dodge ball or golf. I did enjoy when we played tennis and bowled. If this flies, maybe they'll try and see if they can get you to wear those Fit watches next all day at school and then just keep them on and they'll look at results for the other 12 hours you're not in school, and oh, probably also monitor where you were in those 12 hours. OH, THEY ALREADY ARE
http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2012...

I enrolled in a P.E. class in my Jr college to break up the day. They required a physical before accepting me. I was overweight but my bodyfat was under 30% so I didn't look like a risk. Still, for liability, they needed to know my blood pressure and heart rate. This could also be for liability.

Heart Rate Monitors are not really going to help with Murmurs. Those are really only detected with ECGs and cardiologist. There have been several cases of dropping dead or passing in sleep due to heart undiagnosed heart disorder. Unfortunately, those things happen. And most people don't think they have a problem to get anything detected.

I have a torn view on this. I know in my life, the HRM can be very helpful to make sure I'm not working too hard. But the issue can come out that every body is different. So what heart rate while running or whatever can differ greatly between each kid/person. So, how will they actually know how hard they will be working? I think it should be voluntary, if they would like to monitor for themselves. I knew kids when I was in High School that would have appreciated to have that information, but they were very heavy sports guys!

This won't really be beneficial in a functional way. But I could see it being invasive, gathering biological data on students. But that could just be my paranoia.

yes very sad and more common than one would think. CPR training would be a great unit in Health class. Instead, health class is filled with propaganda

I can't disagree with your logic. The other students who were playing with the students who suddenly died did not see any tell-tale signs before the tragedies. It was just so sad. The one student I knew was a really good kid.

when I first saw that, I thought that was the reason for it. Trust me, gym teachers are not trained in EMT skillsets for the most point. This is a chill to students to raise their heart rate higher during their gym period in high school. Not for medical reasons.In Colorado, a high school student who was the best friend of a young man who died during a sports practice or gym class of having sudden heart arrest, saved a fellow female student the very next year by performing CPR. It prompted the parents of the male student who died to start a campaign to include defibs in schools. It is a sound plan. Here is a link for those interested in hw people are staying aware of this problem.
http://www.parentheartwatch.org/IntheNew...

It would be okay if it weren't compulsory. It sounds like paranoia and/or a politically connected vendor.

At my university we have had two African freshmen die of heart attacks during what most people would consider normal sport. They were both found to have undiagnosed genetic heart defects that caused heart murmurs. Asking students to wear heart rate monitors is an intrusion, but perhaps not an unreasonable one. One of the students was in my class, and as the only professor teaching him a class in his major, I had to explain to two wonderful Nigerian parents why their son had died. So tragic.