Report: Winsted children facing troubling health, school issues

WINSTED — Members of the Winchester School District’s Cradle to Classroom program are working to identify and solve problems facing young children in the community, including significant health and educational issues.The plan will tackle issues facing children in the community.At a Board of Selectmen’s meeting on Monday, Dec. 19, consultant Paul Vivian reported to town leaders about some of the group’s findings.Vivian said the first area of the study concentrates on district children’s health.According to the preliminary data on the 89 students in this school year’s kindergarten class, 52 percent have a healthy Body Mass Index (BMI).A BMI is a measure of body fat based on height and weight.“If you do the math, that means 48 percent of the class do not have a healthy BMI,” Vivian said. “We found out that 40 percent of the kindergarten student body is overweight and 8 percent are underweight. It’s a concern because when we are looking at five year-olds that are already overweight or underweight, that is troubling. We think that nutrition and a lack of exercise is an important factor.”Vivian said that the state, in general, has a very high overweight population.“We need to target children from birth to the age of 5, because when they get older than 5 that is way too late,” he said. Vivian said the group also looked at the percentage rate of district children with asthma, along with the rate of mothers who smoked during pregnancy. “Unfortunately, Winsted has the highest rate in the state of women who smoke during their pregnancy,” Vivian said. “About one out of five mothers are reported to smoke. It’s troubling because not only does it lead to children with asthma and other respiratory issues, but also low birth rates.”The next area Vivian said the group is focusing on is children’s safety.He said that according to the Department of Children and Families, in 2010 there were 70 substantiated cases of abuse and neglect involving children under 8 years old.“Why is that number so high? We don’t know,” Vivian said. “It’s troubling to see a number so high.”As for learning, Vivian said the study focused on Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) results which shows the percentage of third-grade students who are learning at goal level.According to CMT results from the school year 2010-11, 57.6 percent of third-grade students are reading at third-grade level, which is near the state average of 58.4 percent.“But it also means that four out of 10 Winsted children are not reading at goal level,” Vivian said. “So if you have a classroom of 20 kids, eight kids in that classroom are not reading at goal level.”Vivian said that the group wants to develop strategies on helping families get their children to be ready to learn once they enter school.“Connecticut is a unique state because children do not have to go into the classroom until they are 7 years old, yet you can still send them to school when they are 4 years old,” Vivian said. “In some kindergarten classrooms, you have 4 year-olds and 7-year-olds sitting next to each other. Because of which, the achievement gap for students has already started. We need to find ways to get children to be ready to learn once they enter the classroom.”One final area that the group looked at is the percentage of students eligible in the district for the reduced or free lunch program.Vivian said that in school year 2010-11, 55 percent of students in the district were eligible for the program.“Looking at this percentage gives us a number of how many families in the district are in the poverty level,” Vivian said. “It tells us that any strategies that we come up will be strategies we cannot charge families for. We have to find ways for families to get to them without paying for it.”The Cradle to Classroom program has received funds from the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund through a competitive grant process in order to put together a community plan for children up to 8 years old.“After the plan is completed, we will submit it to the foundation, which will provide the funding of a three-year study to implement some of the strategies developed from this plan,” Vivian said. “The ultimate goal is have the children of the community be healthy, safe and successful learners. What we are studying is what is preventing children from this goal.”Vivian said the group has until June 30 to complete its plan.