District Administration - January 2011 - (Page 72)

Tough New Issues Refocus Health Education when they become aware of incidents like cyberbullying. They should contact the parents of offenders to discuss the problem, reach out to social network providers like Facebook, and talk to school teachers and administrators about ways schools could provide education and counseling to students about potential consequences of this type of behavior, Wooley says. Curriculum Changes A revised health education curriculum that the Helena (Mont.) Public Schools adopted in October 2010 requires instruction in all grades to underscore district policy against any form of bullying or other harassment or intimidation of students. “We inserted the policy right into the curriculum,” says Superintendent Bruce K. Messinger. But when parents objected to some language proposed for the curriculum—at least one parent threatened to sue the district—the language was changed. For example, proposed instructional language in the seventh-grade curriculum discussing sexual assault and rape that included the phrase “penetration of the vagina, mouth or anus” was changed to “Montana law defines rape as sexual intercourse without consent.” In North Carolina, a new “Com- McCollum High School students in the Harlandale Independent School District in Texas put on a dance performance, where students gather before the district’s two high schools play football. The district promotes healthy eating and attitudes as part of its curriculum. prehensive Health Education Program” adopted last summer by the Chapel HillCarrboro City Schools mandates violence prevention and nutrition instruction starting in middle school. The district is calling on community resources for support, including the Family Violence Prevention Center of Orange County (N.C.) and the Orange County Rape Crisis Center, which send professionals trained in social work or related fields to talk to middle school students. For 45-minute classroom sessions on three consecutive days, they teach how to keep oneself safe from relationship violence and sexual bullying, reports Stephanie Willis, health coordinator for the school district. The district’s regular health teachers sit in on the classroom sessions. The Anchorage (Alaska) School District supplements its health curriculum with a Abstinence, Contraception Frame N ot all public school districts iN the couNtry provide sex education, and those that do are torn between emphasizing abstinence or recognizing that sex between teens occurs, so they should also focus on preventing unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. With a boost from the obama administration, the more comprehensive approach seems to be gaining favor, although not without opposition. “it’s nice to see a sort of awakening across the country to do a more comprehensive approach,” says stephen conley, who succeeded susan Wooley on January 1 as executive director of the american school health association. Denver’s Example the denver public schools board of education in June 2010 unanimously adopted a resolution stressing the importance of comprehensive sexuality education for adolescents. it calls for pursuing funding and other federal support to ensure that all its students “have access to science-based, comprehensive, medically accurate, culturally relevant and age-appropriate sexuality education, information and resources to make informed decisions about their health and relationships.” “talking to children about sex,” a guide for parents that the denver district issued in 2007, addresses these issues. Without mentioning abstinence, 72 January 2011 it advises parents to teach their adolescent children that “sex is natural” but also that “it’s okay to say no to sex until they’re ready.” it urges parents to discuss with their children the risk of “profound consequences” of sex—namely, pregnancy and disease—and “explain contraception” to them “without advocating sexual activity.” Helena’s Example the human sexuality section of a revised health education curriculum that the helena (Mont.) public schools adopted last october calls for students in grades 5-12 to be taught to “understand abstinence from sexual activity is a healthy choice and is the only 100 percent effective way” to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. instruction in grades 9-12 also aims to “evaluate the progression of reliability of various contraceptive methods,” according to the curriculum document. helena superintendent bruce K. Messinger says the sex education part of the curriculum was revised twice before the document’s adoption due to feedback from parents and other community members about issues including the age-appropriateness of some of its content. Families that continue to have objections can have their children “opt out” of certain sections of the curriculum. the district is considering how to create options for them, Messinger says. district administration

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - January 2011

District Administration - January 2011
Contents
From the Editor
Letters
News Update
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Conversations
Crisis Response
Going Mobile
Online Edge
Professional Opinion
K12 Guide to Audio/Visual Solutions
Product Focus
What’s the Value in Value-Added?
The Politicization of Bullying
Holding On to Parent Voices
Tough New Issues Refocus Health Education
New Products
Books

District Administration - January 2011