IGAI - Health Instruction and Sex Education

1. PURPOSE AND PHILOSOPHY

The Board of Education (Board) recognizes the personal and societal benefits of health education taught by qualified educators. The Board also recognizes its duty under Utah law to provide for the responsible instruction of students in certain areas of health education. Specifically, the Board recognizes that the standards and objectives adopted by the Utah State Board of Education include instruction on the physical and emotional aspects of human development and the mental, emotional, social, and physical changes that occur throughout a person’s life. Utah law places certain requirements on sex education instruction and related areas, such as human reproductive processes, maturation, sexually transmitted diseases, and human relationships.

The Board supports parent choice in sex education instruction and believes parents should be able to choose whether to have qualified educators provide that instruction. The Board also believes parents should be able to choose which portions of the sex education curriculum are taught to their children. 

The Board believes the sex education curriculum should promote marriage and the family, emphasizing sexual abstinence before marriage and fidelity within marriage. 

This policy is adopted to outline requirements for sex education instruction, health education instruction, and related areas, as well as requirements and procedures for adoption of curriculum and materials used therewith. 

2. DEFINITIONS

“Health and Sex Education Curriculum Materials Review Committee” or “Committee” means the committee formed consistent with Utah Admin. Code R277-474, as described in Section 3 of this policy. 

“Health education instruction,” as more fully described in section 6, means instruction in the curricula required under Utah Code Ann. § 53G-10-402(2)(a): the success sequence, community and personal health, physiology, personal hygiene, prevention of communicable disease, human development, marriage and safe dating practices, refusal skills, resilience, situational awareness, the harmful effects of pornography, and the consequences of behaviors that pose a risk to individual health or of failure under the success sequence. 

“Sex education instruction” is defined in Utah Code Ann. § 53G-10-403 and is more fully described in section 4.

“Maturation education” is included in the definition of sex education instruction and means instruction and materials used to teach fifth or sixth grade students about the physical and emotional changes associated with puberty. Maturation education is intended to assist in protecting students from abuse and to promote hygiene and good health practices. Instruction and materials must be Medically Accurate and age appropriate. 

“Medically accurate” means verified or supported by research conducted in compliance with scientific methods and published in journals that have received peer review, and recognized as accurate and objective by professional organizations and agencies with expertise in the relevant field.

“Parental Notification Form” means the form approved by the Utah State Board of Education as described in Utah Admin. Code R277-474 and referenced in the Forms section at the end of this policy as the Utah State Board of Education Parent Consent Form for Sex Education Instruction.

“Refusal skills” is defined in Utah Code Ann. § 53G-10-402 and means instruction:

in a student's ability to clearly and expressly refuse sexual advances by a minor or adult;

in a student's obligation to stop the student's sexual advances if refused by another individual;

informing a student of the student's right to report and seek counseling for unwanted sexual advances;

in sexual harassment; and

informing a student that a student may not consent to criminally prohibited activities or activities for which the student is legally prohibited from giving consent, including the electronic transmission of sexually explicit images by an individual, regardless of whether the image is of the individual who transmits the image or of another individual.

“Situational awareness” is defined in Utah Code Ann. § 53G-10-402 and means instruction in a student’s ability to: 

Observe the student’s environment, including:

Increasing awareness; and

noticing details and changes in the environment; and

respond in unsafe situations, including how to seek help.

“Success sequence” is defined in Utah Code Ann. § 53G-10-402 and means a three-prong framework for youth and young adults that encourages: 

Completing at least a high school education and pursuing further educational opportunities; 

Obtaining full-time employment; and

Having children within a healthy and stable family and marriage.

3. HEALTH AND SEX EDUCATION CURRICULUM MATERIALS REVIEW COMMITTEE

Consistent with Utah Admin. Code R277-474, there is formed at the District level a Health and Sex Education Curriculum Materials Review Committee (“Committee”). The Associate Superintendent of Curriculum shall ensure that the Committee is organized and functions as provided in this policy. The Committee must include the following individuals:

Parents,

Health professionals,

School health educators, and

Administrators. 

The Committee shall include at least as many parents as school employees. 

Committee members are appointed and reviewed annually by the Board. 

The Committee shall meet on a regular basis as determined by the membership. 

The Committee shall designate a chair and select its own procedures. 

The Committee is subject to the Open and Public Meetings Act, Utah Code Ann. § 52-4-101 et seq.

The Committee may recommend instructional materials to the Board.

The Committee shall review and approve all guest speakers and guest presenters and their respective materials relating to sex education instruction in any course and maturation education prior to their presentations.

The Committee shall not authorize the use of any sex education instruction program or maturation education program not previously (a) approved by the Utah State Board of Education, (b) approved by the Board consistent with the procedures outlined in Utah Admin. Code R277-474, or (c) otherwise approved consistent with Utah Code Ann. § 53G-10-402.

4. PARENTAL CONSENT REQUIRED 

“Sex education instruction” is defined in Utah Code Ann. § 53G-10-403 and means, for the purpose of the parental consent requirement in this section, any course material, unit, class, lesson, activity, or presentation that, as the focus of the discussion, provides instruction or information to a student about: 

Sexual abstinence; 

Human development, including puberty and maturation; 

Human reproductive processes, including conception, fetal development, pregnancy, and birth; 

Human reproductive anatomy and physiology; 

Healthy dating practices, marriage, and parenthood, in accordance with the success sequence as defined above; 

Adoption; 

Information about contraceptive methods or devices in accordance with Utah Code Ann. § 53G-10-402;

Chronic, infectious, and acute diseases and conditions of the reproductive system, including sexually transmitted infections and diseases; or

The parental consent requirements outlined in subsection 4.1 do not apply to the following:

Child sexual abuse prevention instruction described in Utah Code Ann. § 53G-9-207; or

Instruction in refusal skills or situational awareness, as those terms are defined in Utah Code Ann. § 53G-10-402.

The parent or legal guardian of a student must provide written consent before the student may participate in sex education instruction or maturation education. 

Consent must be obtained using the Parental Notification Form developed by the Utah State Board of Education, as described in Utah Admin. Code R277-474.

The signed Parental Notification Forms must be retained at the school for a reasonable period of time but no less than one year. 

If a student’s parent chooses not to have the student participate in sex education instruction, the school shall either waive the requirement to participate or provide the student with a reasonable alternative to the sex education instruction. 

5. ADOPTION OF CURRICULUM AND MATERIALS

Primary source materials, as that term is defined in Nebo School District Policy IIA, Student Instruction and Materials, for sex education instruction, health education instruction, or maturation education, must be approved and adopted by the Board. 

The Board may choose to adopt 

instructional materials for sex education instruction, health education instruction, or maturation education, that have been recommended by USBE, or 

other instructional materials under the process described below and in accordance with Utah Admin. Code R277-474. 

If the Board adopts instructional materials under paragraph 5.2.2, the following apply:

The Board must ensure that the materials comply with state law and USBE rules. 

The Board must base the adoption of the materials on the recommendations of the Committee. 

The adoption must be by a majority vote of Board members present at a regular Board meeting for which prior notice is given to parents and in which parents and students are given the opportunity to express their views and opinions on the materials. 

The materials must comply with Section 6 of this policy.

The materials must be medically accurate, as defined in Utah Admin. Code R277-474, meaning they must be verified or supported by research conducted in compliance with scientific methods and published in journals that have received peer-review, and recognized as accurate and objective by professional organizations and agencies with expertise in the relevant field.

The materials must be made available to residents of the District for reasonable review opportunities prior to consideration for adoption. 

The District shall make a report to the Utah State Board of Education as required by state law.

Primary source materials adopted by the Board under paragraph 5.2.2 must be reviewed annually by the Board. 

6. HEALTH EDUCATION INSTRUCTION

Consistent with the parental consent requirements of Section 4, students shall receive instruction on the following topics on at least two occasions between the beginning of grade 7 and the end of grade 12: 

The success sequence, as defined above; 

Community and personal health, including personal hygiene and the prevention of communicable disease;

Physiology;

Human development;

Marriage and safe dating practices;

Refusal skills; 

Resilience; 

Situational awareness; 

The harmful effects of pornography; and

The consequences of behaviors that pose a risk to individual health or of failure under the success sequence. 

The instruction described in subsection 6.1 must stress

The importance of abstinence from all sexual activity before marriage and fidelity after marriage as methods for

maintaining mental, physical, and social health, including reducing stress; 

eliminating risks associated with sexual activity, including preventing pregnancy and certain communicable diseases; and

achieving the success sequence; and

Stress personal skills that encourage abstinence, the return to abstinence, and fidelity. 

Under Utah Code Ann. § 53G-10-402 and Utah Admin. Code R277-474, instruction or discussion of the following, regardless of parental consent or intent to receive the instruction, is prohibited: 

The intricacies of sexual stimulation, or erotic behavior;

The advocacy of premarital or extramarital sexual activity;

The advocacy or encouragement of the use of contraceptive methods or devices; or

Any means or methods that facilitate or encourage the violation of any state or federal criminal law by a minor or an adult, including as a response to a spontaneous question from a student..

Consistent with the parental consent requirements of Section 4 and the prohibitions in paragraph 6.3.3, instruction may include information about contraceptive methods or devices, not including abortion or any abortive methods. The instruction must stress the effectiveness, failure rates for youth, limitations, risks, and information on state law applicable to minors obtaining contraceptive methods or devices. 

Under Utah Code Ann. § 53G-10-409, no entity employee, representative, or affiliate that performs elective abortions or provides debranded maturation curriculum may:

deliver instruction or programs on all health or health related topics in a school; or

provide materials or media on a health topic for distribution or display in a school that receives state funding, if the materials or media are created by, funded by, donated by, or bear the identifying mark of the entity or the entity's affiliate.

7. EDUCATOR RESPONSIBILITIES

Before providing instruction under this policy, newly hired or newly assigned educators must attend professional development outlining the sex education curriculum and the criteria for sex education instruction in any course offered in the public education system. All educators providing instruction under this policy must attend such professional development at least once every three years. 

Due to the sensitive nature of sex education and maturation, individuals providing instruction under this policy should do so in an atmosphere of respect and dignity. Instructors should avoid remarks or actions that might reasonably be construed to have a demeaning or embarrassing effect on students. 

Educators may not use primary source materials for sex education instruction, health education instruction, or maturation education that have not been approved by the Board.

Educators may not provide contraceptives to students. 

Educators who receive complaints or comments from parents or students resulting from student participation in instruction under this policy shall deliver such complaints or comments to the chair of the Committee.  

Educators shall ensure that students for whom the consent is not obtained as required under Section 4 of this policy do not participate in the instruction. 

Except as prohibited under paragraph subsection 6.3, educators may respond to spontaneous student questions for the purposes of providing accurate data or correcting inaccurate or misleading information or comments made by students in class regarding human development.