Health Education
After updating CPS Sexual Health and Wellness Policies, the Office of Student Health and Wellness recognized the need for a comprehensive health education policy to better serve our students and support our teachers. The Office of Student Health and Wellness has assembled a Health Education Advisory Committee with health professionals from across the state of Illinois. This group is currently developing a plan for district-wide comprehensive health education that includes curriculum, scope and sequence and parent education. The plan will include lessons and activities with these subjects:
- Alcohol & Other Drugs
- Anatomy
- Community & Environment
- Injury Prevention
- Mental & Emotional Health
- Nutrition
- Personal & Consumer Health
- Physical Activity
- Tobacco
- Sexual Health
Sexual Health Education
Students in every grade receive sexual health education from trained school staff. The Office of Student Health and Wellness has two primary goals for sexual health education:
- To provide all students (K-12) with sexual health education that is comprehensive, developmentally appropriate and medically accurate, with abstinence included as a component of healthy sexual decision-making.
- To decrease sexual risk-taking behaviors that lead to STIs/HIV and unintended pregnancies.
Minute Requirement
Grades K-4 –Requires 300 teaching minutes per grade, annually. Instruction for these grades lays the foundational comprehensive sexual health education and is comprised of lessons on the following four topic areas specified in the National Sexuality Education Standards: anatomy and physiology, reproduction, healthy relationships and personal safety. This foundational instruction is often referred to as Family Life Education.
Grades 5-12 – Requires 675 teaching minutes per grade, annually. Education expands upon the foundational instruction by providing lessons on the following five topic areas specified in the National Sexuality Education Standards: abstinence, healthy relationships (including informed decision-making, sexual orientation, gender identity and personal safety) medically-recommended contraceptives, transmission and prevention of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
Parents as the Primary Educators Chicago Public Schools recognize parents as the primary educators. Therefore, CPS encourages parents to have open communication with their child/ren about sexual health. Parents are to receive at least three notifications about the instruction including the time that it will occur. Parents have the right to opt their child out of all of the instruction or by specific lessons. In addition, schools shall make lesson plans and student instruction materials available for parents to review. No student whose parent/guardian provides a timely written objection shall be required to participate in any sexual health education lesson and no student shall be suspended or expelled for refusal to participate in any such lesson or program. Any student whose parent/guardian does not provide a written objection to participation in a sexual health education lesson or program shall be required to participate.
Parent/Guardian Opt-Out
No student whose parent/guardian provides a timely written objection shall be required to participate in any sexual health education lesson and no student shall be suspended or expelled for refusal to participate in any such lesson or program. Any student whose parent/guardian does not provide a written objection to participation in a sexual health education lesson or program shall be required to participate.
Sexual Health Education Resources:
Parent Notification Letters [English, Spanish]
Sexual Health Education Overview (English and Spanish)
Sample Scope and Sequence of Sexual Health Education [English]
