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HEALTH EDUCATION

ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATION - 6142

The district's health education program shall include instruction at the appropriate grade levels in the following content areas:

  • Alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs
  • Human growth, development, and sexual health
  • Injury prevention and safety
  • Mental, emotional, and social health
  • Nutrition and physical activity
  • Personal and community health

Within each of the above content areas, instruction shall be designed to assist students in developing:

  • An understanding of essential concepts related to enhancing health
  • The ability to analyze internal and external influences that affect health
  • The ability to access and analyze health information, products, and services (cf. 5141.6 - School Health Services)
  • The ability to use interpersonal communication skills, decision-making skills, and goal-setting skills to enhance health
  • The ability to practice behaviors that reduce risk and promote health
  • The ability to promote and support personal, family, and community health

Upon written request from a parent/guardian, a student shall be excused from health instruction that conflicts with his/her religious training and beliefs, including personal moral convictions. (Education Code 51240) Students so excused shall be given an alternative educational activity.

Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention Instruction

Definitions:

Comprehensive sexual health education means education regarding human development and sexuality, including education on pregnancy, contraception, and sexually transmitted infections. (Education Code 51931)

HIV prevention education means instruction on the nature of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), methods of transmission, strategies to reduce the risk of HIV infection, and social and public health issues related to HIV and AIDS. (Education Code 51931) (cf. 6142.8 - Comprehensive Health Education) (cf. 6143 - Courses of Study)

Age appropriate refers to topics, messages, and teaching methods suitable to particular ages or age groups of children and adolescents, based on developing cognitive, emotional, and behavioral capacity typical for the age or age group. (Education Code 51931)

Medically accurate means verified or supported by research conducted in compliance with scientific methods and published in peer-reviewed journals, where appropriate, and recognized as accurate and objective by professional organizations and agencies with expertise in the relevant field, such as the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Public Health Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. (Education Code 51931)

General Criteria for Instruction and Materials

  1. Are age appropriate
  2. Are factually and medically accurate and objective
  3. Align with and support the following purposes as specified in Education Code 51930:
    1. To provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to protect their sexual and reproductive health from HIV and other sexually transmitted infections and from unintended pregnancy
    2. To provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to develop healthy attitudes concerning adolescent growth and development, body image, gender, sexual orientation, relationships, marriage, and family
    3. To promote understanding of sexuality as a normal part of human development
    4. To ensure students receive integrated, comprehensive, accurate, and unbiased sexual health and HIV prevention instruction and provide educators with clear tools and guidance to accomplish that end
    5. To provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to have healthy, positive, and safe relationships and behaviors
  4. Are appropriate for use with students of all races, genders, sexual orientations, and ethnic and cultural backgrounds; students with disabilities; and English learners
  5. Are available on an equal basis to a student who is an English learner, consistent with the existing curriculum and alternative options for an English learner as otherwise provided in the Education Code
  6. Are accessible to students with disabilities, including, but not limited to, the provision of a modified curriculum, materials, and instruction in alternative formats and auxiliary aids
  7. Do not reflect or promote bias against any person in protected categories of discrimination pursuant to Education Code 220
  8. Affirmatively recognize that people have different sexual orientations and, when discussing or providing examples of relationships and couples, shall be inclusive of same-sex relationships
  9. Teach students about gender, gender expression, and gender identity, and explore the harm of negative gender stereotypes
  10. Encourage students to communicate with their parents/guardians and other trusted adults about human sexuality and provide the knowledge and skills necessary to do so
  11. Teach the value of and prepare students to have and maintain committed relationships such as marriage
  12. Provide students with knowledge and skills they need to form healthy relationships that are based on mutual respect and affection and are free from violence, coercion, and intimidation
  13. Provide students with knowledge and skills for making and implementing healthy decisions about sexuality, including negotiation and refusal skills to assist students in overcoming peer pressure and using effective decision-making skills to avoid high-risk activities
  14. Do not teach or promote religious doctrine

Components of Sexual Health and HIV Prevention Education

The district's comprehensive sexual health education and HIV prevention education for students in grades 7-12, in addition to complying with the criteria listed above in the section "General Criteria for Instruction and Materials," shall include all of the following:

  1. Information on the nature of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections and their effects on the human body
  2. Information on the manner in which HIV and other sexually transmitted infections are and are not transmitted, including information on the relative risk of infection according to specific behaviors, including sexual behaviors and injection drug use
  3. Information that abstinence from sexual activity and injection drug use is the only certain way to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, and that abstinence from sexual intercourse is the only certain way to prevent unintended pregnancy The instruction shall provide information about the value of delaying sexual activity while also providing medically accurate information on other methods of preventing HIV and other sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy.
  4. Information about the effectiveness and safety of all federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved methods that prevent or reduce the risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, including use of antiretroviral medication, consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  5. Information about the effectiveness and safety of reducing the risk of HIV transmission as a result of injection drug use by decreasing needle use and needle sharing
  6. Information about the treatment of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, including how antiretroviral therapy can dramatically prolong the lives of many people living with HIV and reduce the likelihood of transmitting HIV to others
  7. Discussion about social views on HIV and AIDS, including addressing unfounded stereotypes and myths regarding HIV and AIDS and people living with HIV This instruction shall emphasize that successfully treated HIV-positive individuals have a normal life expectancy, all people are at some risk of contracting HIV, and that testing is the only way to know if one is HIV-positive
  8. Information about local resources, how to access local resources, and students' legal rights to access local resources for sexual and reproductive health care such as testing and medical care for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy prevention and care, as well as local resources for assistance with sexual assault and intimate partner violence
  9. Information about the effectiveness and safety of FDA-approved contraceptive methods in preventing pregnancy, including, but not limited to, emergency contraception. Instruction on pregnancy shall include an objective discussion of all legally available pregnancy outcomes, including, but not limited to:
  • Parenting, adoption, and abortion
  • Information on the law on surrendering physical custody of a minor child 72 hours of age or younger, pursuant to Health and Safety Code 1255.7 and Penal Code 271.5
  • The importance of prenatal care

10. Information about sexual harassment, adolescent relationship abuse, intimate partner violence, sex trafficking, sexual assault and violence, including, but not limited to, information on the affirmative consent standard pursuant to Education Code 67386

Professional Development

The district's comprehensive sexual health education and HIV prevention education shall be provided by instructors trained in the appropriate courses who are knowledgeable of the most recent medically accurate research on human sexuality, healthy relationships, pregnancy, and HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

The Superintendent or designee shall cooperatively plan and conduct in-service training for all district personnel who provide HIV prevention education, through regional planning, joint powers agreements, or contract services.

In developing and providing in-service training, the Superintendent or designee shall cooperate and collaborate with the teachers who provide HIV prevention education and with the California Department of Education (CDE).

The district shall periodically conduct in-service training to enable district personnel to learn new developments in the scientific understanding of HIV. In-service training shall be voluntary for personnel who have demonstrated expertise or received in-service training from the CDE or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Superintendent or designee may expand HIV in-service training to cover the topic of comprehensive sexual health education for district personnel teaching comprehensive sexual health education to learn new developments in the scientific understanding of sexual health.

Use of Consultants or Guest Speakers

The Superintendent or designee may contract with outside consultants or guest speakers, including those who have developed multilingual curricula or curricula accessible to persons with disabilities, to deliver comprehensive sexual health and HIV prevention education or to provide training for district personnel. All outside consultants and guest speakers shall have expertise in comprehensive sexual health education and HIV prevention education and knowledge of the most recent medically accurate research on the relevant topic(s) covered in the instruction. The Superintendent or designee shall ensure that any instruction provided by an outside speaker or consultant complies with Board policy, administrative regulation, and Education Code 51930-51939.

Parent/Guardian Notification

At the beginning of each school year or at the time of a student's enrollment, the Superintendent or designee shall notify parents/guardians about instruction in comprehensive sexual health education and HIV prevention education, as well as research on student health behaviors and risks, planned for the coming year.

The notice shall advise parents/guardians:

  1. That written and audiovisual educational materials to be used in comprehensive sexual health and HIV prevention education are available for inspection
  2. That parents/guardians have a right to excuse their child from comprehensive sexual health or HIV prevention education, or research on student health behaviors and risks, provided they submit their request in writing to the district
  3. That parents/guardians have a right to request a copy of Education Code 51930-51939

Whether the comprehensive sexual health or HIV prevention education will be taught by district personnel or outside consultants. If the district chooses to use outside consultants or to hold an assembly with guest speakers to deliver comprehensive sexual health or HIV prevention education, the notification shall include:

  •  The date of the instruction
  •  The name of the organization or affiliation of each guest speaker
  •  Information stating the right of the parent/guardian to request a copy of Education Code 51933, 51934, and 51938

If the arrangements for instruction by outside consultants or guest speakers are made after the beginning of the school year, the Superintendent or designee shall notify parents/guardians by mail or another commonly used method of notification no fewer than 14 days before the instruction is given.

The requirements of Education Code 51930-51939 pertaining to instructional content, teacher training, and parental notification and consent shall not apply to the following:

A description or illustration of human reproductive organs that may appear in a textbook, adopted pursuant to law, if the textbook does not include other elements of comprehensive sexual health education or HIV prevention education

Instruction or materials that discuss gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, discrimination, harassment, bullying, intimidation, relationships, or family and do not discuss human reproductive organs and their functions

Legal Reference:

EDUCATION CODE

Education Code 220
Education Code 51931, 51932, 51933, 51934, and 51938
Education Code 67386
Health and Safety Code 1255.7
Penal Code 271.5

Policy Adopted: June 6, 2006
Policy Revised: March 7, 2017