Comprehensive Sexual Health Education

• To provide pupils with the knowledge and skills...

  • to protect their sexual and reproductive health from HIV and other sexually transmitted infections and from unintended pregnancy;

  • to develop healthy attitudes concerning adolescent growth and development, body image, gender, sexual orientation, relationships, marriage, and family;

  • to have healthy, positive, and safe relationships and behaviors

• To promote understanding of sexuality as a normal part of human development;

• To ensure pupils receive integrated, comprehensive, accurate, and unbiased sexual health and HIV prevention instruction and provide educators with clear tools and guidance to accomplish that end.

• Be age appropriate

• Be medically accurate and objective;

• Align with and support the purposes of the California Healthy Youth Act, as described above;

• Be appropriate for use with pupils of all races, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic and cultural backgrounds;

• Be appropriate for and equally available to English language learners;

• Be appropriate for and accessible to pupils with disabilities;

• Affirmatively recognize different sexual orientations and be inclusive of same-sex relationships in discussions and examples;

• Teach about gender, gender expression, gender identity, and the harm of negative gender stereotypes;

• Encourage students to communicate with their parents/guardians and other trusted adults about human sexuality, and provide skills for doing so;

• Teach the value of and prepare students to have and maintain committed relationships such as marriage;

• Provide knowledge and skills for forming healthy relationships that are free from violence; and

• Provide knowledge and skills for making and implementing healthy decisions about sexuality including negotiation and refusal skills to assist students in overcoming peer pressure and using effective decision making skills to avoid high-risk activities.

Abstinence from sexual activity and injection drug use shall be emphasized and taught within the context of comprehensive sexual health and HIV prevention education (EC 51934[3]), however, abstinence-only education is not permitted in California public schools.

Comprehensive Sexual Health Education will be taught within the student's science class in middle school and within the health class in high school.

•  If you do not want your student to participate in comprehensive sexual health or HIV prevention education, you may opt-out by submitting the signed notification letter to your student's school.

• Schools may not require active consent (“opt-in”) for participation in comprehensive sexual health and HIV prevention education. If the parent/guardian does not request in writing that the child be withheld, the child will attend the instruction.  (EC § 51938(a).)

To view the curriculum materials, you may either contact your student's school principal or the Curriculum & Instruction Office @ (714) 628-5658 to schedule an appointment.