File: IHAM - Health Education File: IHAM - Health EducationThe Board is committed to a comprehensive health education and health service program as an integral part of each student's general education. The health education program should emphasize a contemporary approach to health information and the skills and knowledge necessary for students to understand and appreciate the functioning and proper care of the human body.
In addition, the student shall be presented with information regarding complex social, physical and mental health problems which will be encountered in society. In health education, students should examine the potential health hazards of social, physical and mental situations which exist in the broad school-community environment and learn to make intelligent, viable choices on alternatives of serious personal consequence.
The Board believes that the greatest opportunity for effective health education lies within the public schools because of the opportunity to reach almost all children at an age where positive, lifelong health habits may be engendered and the availability of qualified personnel to conduct health education programs and health services. Good health is a dynamic, not a static, quality and therefore depends upon continuous, lifelong attention to scientific advances and acquisition of new knowledge.
In addition to the requirements listed below, the customary policies and regulations concerning the approval of new curriculum content, units and materials shall apply to any comprehensive health education courses offered by the district:
1. Instructional materials to be used in comprehensive health education courses shall be available for inspection by the public during school hours. A public meeting shall be scheduled to receive public comments.
2. Parents/guardians of all students shall be notified that such courses have been scheduled and that they may request that their child be exempt without penalty from a specific portion of the comprehensive health program on the grounds that it is contrary to their religious beliefs. If the request for the exemption is from a specific portion of the health education curriculum that concerns human sexuality, no reason must be given by the parent/guardian when requesting the exemption.
3. The notice to parents shall include a detailed, substantive outline of the topics and materials to be presented in the portion of the planned curriculum that concerns human sexuality.
4. The Board shall approve an exemption procedure. If a student is granted an exemption, an alternate educational assignment shall be arranged.
5. Teachers who provide instruction in comprehensive health education shall have professional preparation in the subject area, either at the pre-service or in-service level.
Adopted: August 1998
Revised: February 2001
Revised: May 2004
Revised: May 2010
LEGAL REFS.: 20 U.S.C. 7906 (prohibition against the use of Title I Funds to operate a program of contraception in the schools contained in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
C.R.S. 22-1-110.5
C.R.S. 22-25-105
C.R.S. 22-25-106 (4)
C.R.S. 22-25-110 (2)
CROSS REFS.: IGA, Curriculum Development
IGD, Curriculum Adoption
IHACA*, Law-Related Education
IHAMB, Family Life/Sex Education
JLC, Student Health Services and Requirements, and subcodes
NOTE 1: The Comprehensive Health Education Act of 1990, specifically C.R.S. 22-25-104(6), provides:
Any curriculum and materials developed and used in teaching sexuality and human reproduction shall include values and responsibility and shall give primary emphasis to abstinence by school-aged children. School officials shall receive prior written approval from a parent or guardian before his or her child may participate in any program discussing or teaching sexuality and human reproduction. Parents must receive, with the written permission slip, an overview of the topics and materials to be presented in the curriculum.
This amendment applies only to the programs funded through state grant dollars for Comprehensive Health Education. Therefore, if a funded program uses grant money to teach sex education, prior written approval from a parent or guardian is required. The written permission slip must be accompanied by an overview of the topics and materials to be presented in the curriculum.
Prior written approval is not required for other classes addressing human reproduction such as biology or science unless such classes are part of a Comprehensive Health Education program.
NOTE 2: 20 U.S.C.7906 of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 states that no Title I funds may be used to:
Ø Develop or distribute materials or operate programs or courses of instruction directed at youth that are designed to promote or encourage sexual activity, whether homosexual or heterosexual
Ø Distribute or aid in the distribution by any organization of legally obscene materials to minors on school grounds
Ø Provide education or HIV prevention education in schools unless that instruction is age appropriate and includes the health benefits of abstinence
Ø Operate a program of contraceptive distribution in the schools
NOTE 3: There are three different exemption procedures in state law for health education programs and curriculum that includes a discussion of human sexuality. See Note 1 for the "opt in" provisions for comprehensive health education programs funded through state grant dollars. Another statute authorizes districts to restrict exemptions from health education programs to instances where the parent/guardian objects that the instruction is contrary to religious beliefs or teachings. See C.R.S. 22-25-106(4). The third exemption reference is a new law which requires districts to provide an exemption when the district offers a planned curriculum that includes the discussion of or instruction concerning human sexuality upon the written request of the parent. C.R.S. 22-1-110.5. This sample policy and exemption procedure that accompanies it are written to address these three approaches. To eliminate some of the confusion, districts can modify opportunities to "opt out" so they are consistent. This approach would allow a parent/guardian to request an exemption from any portion of the health education curriculum that is objectionable without having to state a particular reason for the exemption. The sample policy and regulation would have to be modified to allow parents/guardians to "opt out" from any portion of the curriculum without having to state a reason.
NOTE 4: School districts are encouraged to establish a local student wellness program that includes or is otherwise coordinated with health education. C.R.S. 22-25-106(1)(b). School districts may then seek state funding for their local student wellness programs pursuant to the Comprehensive Health Education Act of 1990. C.R.S. 22-25-105(1)