Austin Independent School District (AISD) Parents:
AISD is considering a comprehensive sexual health education curriculum for K-8th grade students. To show your support, please sign this petition which will be delivered on behalf of The Informed Parents of Austin to the Austin ISD School Health Advisory Committee (SHAC) and the Board of Trustees.
There are many reasons to support age-appropriate, science-based, comprehensive sexuality education in your child’s school – here are just a couple:
Comprehensive sex education keeps kids safe and healthy. Children and teens make healthier choices and have healthier relationships when they receive fact-based sex education at school. In fact, teens who receive comprehensive sexual health education are more likely to wait longer to become sexually active and make safer lifelong sexual decisions. With honest and factual information, students of all ages have the tools they need to take charge of their health and focus on their future goals.
Comprehensive sex education is recommended by experts. The American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Medical Association, American Public Health Association, Institute of Medicine, and Society for Adolescent Medicine all support comprehensive sex education for all children beginning in elementary school.
Basic information about the new AISD program:
- The program AISD is considering is science-based and appropriate for students’ age and developmental stage.
- The elementary curriculum includes 5 lessons per year from Kindergarten thru 5th grade.
- Students will learn about basic body parts, appropriate boundaries, healthy friendships.
- The middle school curriculum includes 10 lessons per year in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade.
- Students learn about healthy relationships, reproductive systems and processes, abstinence, contraception, and sexually transmitted diseases.
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By state law, parents/parenting adults will be able to opt their child out of any lesson and no child will be required to participate.
Your support is needed to get this curriculum approved and implemented in classrooms district-wide. School Health Advisory Committee (SHAC) will vote to adopt the curriculum and it will then be approved by the AISD Board of Trustees.
Please sign and share with other parents with children in elementary or middle school in AISD. Please only sign if you currently have a student enrolled in AISD. Thank you.
Click here to link to the petition.
Where can we see the curriculum itself? (Not just bullet points of highlights)?
My understanding is that although the scope and the sequence of the lessons have been laid out, the actual lessons haven’t been written yet. Once the structure is approved by the board, the lessons will be completed and all parents who want to see the lessons will be able to see them in their school library near the beginning of the school year. (Principals will communicate timing.) These lessons won’t begin until May 2019 so there will be plenty of time for parents to decide how they want to proceed. Hope that helps!
Children need to be educated about sexual activity and how engaging in it will effect their lives , forever, once they make the decision to move forward into a more “mature” dating situation.
Age-appropriate, science-based, comprehensive sexuality education would be an asset to students enrolled in AISD. With the opt-out option available I support this curriculum model.