POLICY NUMBER:
600.05
ADOPTED:
6.12.2018
Board Policy
- It is the primary responsibility of parents to provide sex education instruction for their children. It is the responsibility of the schools to provide supportive instruction which will complement the efforts of parents.
- The Board authorizes the District Administration to conduct sex education instruction, within the framework established by the State Board of Education and as approved by Canyons School District.
- The District will follow all provisions of state law when teaching any aspect of sex education instruction, including parent/guardian notification and prior written parental consent requirements.
- Licensed educators must complete all state USBE trainings requirements specific to sex education instruction and curriculum prior to teaching sex education instruction.
- The Board authorizes the Superintendent and District Administration to establish administrative regulations consistent with this policy, subject to review and approval by the Board.
ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATION:
600.05-1
APPROVED:
6.12.2018
Definitions - 600.05-1
For purposes of this policy, the following definitions apply:
- Maturation education: means instruction and materials used to provide fifth or sixth grade students with age appropriate, medically accurate information regarding the physical and emotional changes associated with puberty, to assist in protecting students from abuse and to promote hygiene and good health practices.
- “Refusal skills”: 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 of the individual or another.
- Sex education instruction: means any course, unit, class, lesson, activity, or presentation that, as a focus of the discussion, provides instruction or information to a student about sexual abstinence, human sexuality, human reproduction, reproductive anatomy, physiology, pregnancy, marriage, childbirth, parenthood, contraception, HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, or refusal skills.
ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATION:
600.05-2
APPROVED:
6.12.2018
Parent Permission Required; Restrictions in Instruction; Complaints and Violations - 600.05-2
Parent Permission Required
- The parent/legal guardian of a student must provide written consent before the student may participate in Sex Education Instruction.
- Consent must be obtained using the Parental Notification Form.
- 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/legal guardian chooses not to have the student participate Sex Education instruction, the school shall either waive the requirement to participate or provide the student with a reasonable alternative to Sex Education Instruction.
- A student’s academic or citizenship performance may not be penalized if the student’s parent/legal guardian chooses to have the student not participate in sex education instruction.
Instruction:
- The Sex Education Instruction shall stress:
- the importance of abstinence from all sexual activity before marriage and fidelity after marriage as methods for preventing certain communicable diseases; and
- personal skills that encourage individual choice of abstinence and fidelity.
- The District’s Sex Education Instruction educators teaching Sex Education Instruction will comply with state law and board rules emphasizing abstinence before marriage and fidelity after marriage, and prohibiting instruction in the areas outlined in Utah Code §53G-10-402, through the use of instructional materials, direct instruction, or online instruction.
- At no time may instruction be provided, including responses to spontaneous questions raised by students, regarding any means or methods that facilitate or encourage violation of any state or federal criminal law by a minor or an adult.
- This does not preclude an instructor from responding to a spontaneous question as long as the response is consistent with the provisions of this section.
Complaints and Violations
- Complaints and concerns should initially be handled at the school level between parents, teachers, and administrators.
- Each school will log and track complaints and comments resulting from student participation in sex education instruction. The district will report the disposition of complaints to the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) upon request.
- Licensed educators will individually record parent and community complaints or comments regarding sex education instruction programs and will document their responses.
- Complaints that cannot be settled at the school level should be sent in writing to the Director of Instructional Supports who will forward the complaint to the district sex education instruction committee for review. The superintendent shall report educators who willfully violate these procedures or applicable state law to the Utah Professional Practices Advisory Commission for investigation and possible discipline.
ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATION:
600.05-3
APPROVED:
6.12.2018
Sex Education Instruction Committee - 600.05-3
The Superintendent delegates to the Director(s) of Instructional Supports the responsibility for the review and selection of appropriate materials working in conjunction with the District Sex Education Instruction Committee.
The District Sex Education Instruction Committee:
- The Director of Instructional Supports shall see that the District Sex Education Committee is organized and functions as follows:
- The committee will include a Board member or designee and must include the following individuals: parents, health professionals, school health educators, and administrators.
- The committee must include as many parents as school employees.
- Parent representatives must have students currently enrolled in the District.
- Committee members are appointed and reviewed annually by the Board of Education.
- Members of the committee shall:
- meet on a regular basis as determined by the membership;
- select Officers; and
- comply with Utah’s Open and Public Meetings Act.
The District Sex Education Instruction Committee’s Duties:
- Authorize the use of sex education instruction programs or maturation education programs previously approved by the State Board of Education.
- Review and recommend instructional materials that are medically accurate and comply with state law.
- Instructional materials will be available for reasonable review opportunities to district residents prior to consideration for adoption.
- Instructional materials must be approved in a public meeting by a majority vote of the board members present.
- Review and approve all instructional materials, speakers, special programs guest speakers and guest presenters and their respective materials relating to sex education instruction to ensure that the information sought to be presented is medically accurate and complies with state law.
- Review of prior approvals
- Instructional materials will be reviewed every two (2) years from the initial date of approval to check for medical accuracy and compliance with state law.
- Speakers, special programs, and resource agencies will verify in writing at the beginning of each school year that there have been no changes to their previously-approved presentations.
- Any changes must be reviewed and approved by the committee prior to their presentations.
- Hear appeals, complaints, or other special matters pertaining to existing sex education instruction programs and/or instruction that have not been resolved at the school level.
- Submit an annual written report to the board each year which summarizes the work performed by the committee and any complaints or concerns that were received by the District related to the District’s sex education instruction or instructional programs.
- Update annually the Approved Materials List which may be published accessed on the District’s website.
ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATION:
600.05-4
APPROVED:
6.12.2018
Training and Review - 600.05-4
- Training: The District will hold training every three (3) years for all educators that have responsibility for any aspect of sex education instruction. R277-474 (5)(2).
- Review: In accordance with state law, every two years:
- The Board of Education will review this policy; and
- The Board of Education will review local county data provided by the county on the following:
- teen pregnancy;
- child sex abuse;
- sexually transmitted disease and sexually transmitted infections; and
- the number of pornography complaints or other instances within the jurisdiction of the local school board.
ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATION:
600.05-5
APPROVED:
6.12.2018
Maturation - 600.05-5
- Maturation: Each elementary school shall plan an elective maturation program for each fifth-grade girl and her parents and each fifth-grade boy and his parents.
- The main purposes of the program will be to provide accurate information about sexual development and to encourage discussion in the home.
- At the discretion of the school principal, students and their parents from other grades may be invited to attend.
Exhibits
None
Forms
- Parent Notification Form
Document History
Revised – 6.12.2018. Policy – 600.05 – Sex Education Instruction required a substantive update to include recent requirements from H.B. 286 – Reproductive Education Amendments (2018) as codified in Utah Code §53G-10-401, et seq. Specifically, the new state law requirements include: 1) new statutory definitions; 2) a review of the District’s Sex Education Instruction Policy every two years; and 3) a review by the Board of Education of local county provided on teen pregnancy, child sex abuse, sexually transmitted diseases; and pornography complaints in the school board’s jurisdiction. Further updates to the policy are to align the District’s policy consistent statutory language emphasizing abstinence before marriage and fidelity after marriage for sex education instruction and requirements of Board Rule R277- 474 School Instruction and Human Sexuality, including: parent permission to participate in sex education instruction; registering complaints on sex education instruction at the local school level; and a district sex education instruction committee.
Adopted – 4.25.2000.
This online presentation is an electronic representation of the Canyons School District’s currently adopted policy manual. It does not reflect updating activities in progress. The official, authoritative manual is available for inspection in the office of the Superintendent located at 9361 South 300 East Sandy, UT 84070.
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