Louisiana schools now required to teach about eating disorders

(KSLA) — Starting Aug. 1, Louisiana public schools will be required to teach about eating disorders and how to prevent them.

House Bill 440 of the recent regular legislative session was signed into law June 18 by Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards.

Louisiana state Rep. Tammy Phelps, D-Shreveport, authored the legislation now known as Act 626.

“Body image and students and girls not knowing how much it affects their bodies and the functioning in the long term, I thought it was definitely worth trying to introduce it or even begin to talk about it in our public schools,” Phelps said.

Officials say the COVID-19 pandemic caused a rise in eating disorders.

The new law requires schools to provide age- and grade-appropriate classroom instruction about the dangers of eating disorders starting by the sixth grade.

Each local school system will need to come up with a plan explaining how they’ll roll out this program and incorporate it into your child’s education.

The instruction will be part of an existing course of study such as health education, physical education or another required course deemed appropriate by the School Board.

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