January 24, 2022
Good evening,
As you may know, our district has recently begun the process of reviewing and developing a comprehensive health curriculum. Our primary goals throughout this process have been to actively partner with parents and families while preparing youth to face today’s challenges. Together, we want to help and support healthy kids in their development, guided by thoughtful dialogue with parents and teachers. We are committed to developing a program that responds to the diverse needs of our community and our students.
This month, five of the subcommittees have been holding their first meetings (sexual health, violence prevention, digital life, physical activity, and food & nutrition). Of these, the sexual health committee involves the discussion of several particularly sensitive topics and delicate, nuanced issues that do not translate well to a virtual environment. Because our community is still responding to the challenges of the pandemic, resulting in limited resources and high levels of stress, we are temporarily pausing the work on the sexual health subcommittee. We remain committed to the comprehensive health of our students, and we look forward to the time when we can devote the time, attention, and energy to this important facet of the curriculum review, including the in-person dialogue that it clearly requires.
The remaining subcommittee groups will continue to work to establish a foundation for the review process – gathering feedback from stakeholders, exploring the needs and challenges of students and families, identifying strengths and assets in our current program, and articulating a shared vision for students. This work will help guide the development of a quality health program and any potential outcomes. As a result, we hope to collaboratively create a resource that informs critical conversations at home and at school, one that readily allows parents to make decisions about their children’s health education.
At this time, there have not been any proposed materials, purchases, recommendations or revisions to the district’s current health curriculum, and there is no rush to make these important decisions. Any rumors you may hear that the district is planning to implement changes to the health curriculum next year are not true. Please rest assured that staff, students, parents and community members will always have the opportunity to review and provide input prior to any curriculum adoptions by the Board of Education.
We know that the success of this review depends upon our continued collaboration. This includes healthy communication and shared understanding. We will continue to update our health curriculum review web page as we move forward, and we will be asking for your input throughout. We look forward to engaging in this work together.
Sincerely,
Larry LeDoux, Superintendent