New health curriculum for Lovell Middle School

A new health education program for Lovell Middle School students focuses on abstinence, healthy relationships, making good decisions and life skills. The new program was recommended by a team of parents and educators who spent around two months reviewing programs before settling on a recommendation they felt best suited student needs, while at the same time matching the values of the community.The program was presented first to the district’s parent advisory committee before it was recommended to its board of trustees. The board approved the new program at its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, Feb. 8.The new program is called the Glencoe Teen Health series and is offered by the McGraw Hill publishing company. Lovell Middle School Principal Doug Hazen said the committee selected the program because it felt it best matched the community. He added that some of the parents on the committee were the same parents who expressed concern or objections to how the previous program was taught.Hazen said the program is replacing a program that had become outdated and needed replacing. He said parents who had complaints about the old program played a big role in selecting the new program. In particular, past complaints included parents not receiving enough advance warning prior to the sex education module of the health program being taught in the classroom and complaints that some of the more physical aspects of the discussion were being taught to both boys and girls at the same time.Hazen said parents will receive a letter at least two weeks in advance of the module being taught and that anatomy will be taught in separate all boy and all girl groups. He said the program places emphasis on abstinence as the most effective way to avoid unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and unhealthy relationships.“As far as I know, we’ve been teaching the same curriculum for many years,” said Hazen. “We haven’t made any changes for as long as I’ve been here and it was time for a change. This (sex education) is sometimes a hard area to address. Our community is interesting because obviously we are very conservative in some of our ideas.“A lot of kids at the middle school age have some pre-conceived notions and some misconceptions and lots of misinformation. We have some kids who don’t know much at all and some kids who know more than they should. It’s a tough mix sometimes because we have so many kids at so many different levels of knowledge and maturity. We have the full gamut.”The health program includes several modules. The more controversial sex education module will be taught at the eighth-grade level sometime around the end of March or early April of this year. It is expected to last about two weeks and will be taught by Alana Thackeray.“Our focus is on abstinence, of course, because that is the only way to be sure of anything,” said Hazen. “We will also get into the relationships and the emotional aspects, which are also very important. Typically we bring in medical doctors for the more physical aspects. This year, the boys and girls will be taught in separate sessions during that part of the unit.”Hazen said students will be encouraged to ask questions. He said questions will be submitted initially through the use of a “question box.”  Using this method allows students to freely ask questions anonymously and without embarrassment. It also gives medical doctors who will conduct the session an opportunity to pre-screen the questions and to gain insight into the type of information students already know and what they desire to learn more about.“It (sex education) is a small part of the curriculum but the most controversial part,” said Hazen. “It’s the reason we started looking at changing things in the first place. We want students to be informed on the facts. We want to take them to a certain place (in their knowledge) but we don’t want to overstep our bounds.”Hazen said part of the controversy in the past was about a video that was shown to boys and girls at the same time. Hazen assured parents that particular video would not be shown or anything similar to it in mixed company. He said though birth control methods will be discussed, they will not be promoted as a primary recommendation.“Abstinence is the driving force that will be promoted,” said Hazen. “We may touch on the subject of birth control but they won’t be learning toput a condom on or that sort of thing. Certainly they will learn about some of the risk factors and that abstinence is the only thing that is 100percent safe. Though we believe abstinence is the best answer, we alsowant students to be educated enough to know where to go if they have questions or need more information.”The plan was to teach the full sex education module to eighth-graders in the spring semester of this current school year, which put some pressure on the committee reviewing the various programs.“The review process took a couple of months,” said Hazen. “We had a deadline in mind because we wanted to use this new program for our March/April unit.”Hazen said he likes the fact that the program allows for consistency from health taught to seventh graders, eighth graders and even corresponds with the program taught at the high school level.“It allows us to align what is taught in grades sixth through 12 and we can better know what they’ve been taught and what they haven’t been taught. That’s really been a huge benefit to this process. The sex ed part is what makes the headlines, but in the end its not just about that, it’s about the entire curriculum.”That curriculum has 10 different units including nutrition, health, personal hygiene, healthy relationships, emotional health, drug, alcohol and tobacco use and disease and disease control. He said the sex ed component will last for about two weeks.“When the committee looked at this we talked about what things we wanted to see in the program and what we didn’t want to see,” said Hazen. “We certainly didn’t want a curriculum that taught too much, if that makes sense. As it turned out, this happened to be the same textbook series used at the high school, so it aligned well.”Hazen added that in addition to aligning well, it suited the values of the community. He said it also has an online component, which allows use in the classroom without the need for a physical book, and also gives parents, who permit their children to bring home their school issued iPads, to share the program with their children.Thackeray said the health course in general is designed to teach students how to be ready for life. She said learning about “who you are” and good decision-making are imbedded in every unit of the program.“Many parents actually want a little bit more (information) than we’ve been giving to our students,” said Thackeray. “They want a little bit more extended information, not just a brush over.”Thackeray said she likes the fact that there will more emphasis on “healthy relationships,” starting with family relationships then leading to a discussion of dating relationships and what is and is not appropriate. In addition to discussion about the reproductive system, Thackeray said there will also be a discussion focused on child development. She said programs used in the past that had students carry baby dolls around with them to simulate the responsibility of parenthood have been found to be ineffective and will not be used in the new course.She said students will learn about nutrition, the effects of drug and alcohol and tobacco on both the mind and body and the laws connected with using these substances. She said experts will be brought in to discuss these areas. The program emphasizes health and wellness, along with basic skills like how to cook in the kitchen and food safety. Personal hygiene is also part of the course and is tied into the discussion about self-esteem.This is Thackeray’s fourth year teaching the program and she said she welcomes the more structured format of the new program.“Though this has been controversial in the past, as a whole we have found that many students do not have the facts or have the wrong facts (with regard to sex education),” said Thackeray. “I think this is important, whether it’s done through parents, the school or a combination of both to make sure students have correct information. I would want my kids to find out information that is correct, rather than information on the Internet that may not be correct or the hard way.“Unfortunately, we have had some learn the hard way. So, it’s better to be informed. The thing about life skills in general is that it prepares students for life beyond the doors of the schools. It helps them be prepared to make good decisions in their lives. This course teaches them a lot about decision-making and the decision-making process.”Hazen said he welcomes questions from parents about the program and said that, though parents have the right to opt out of the program, he hopes they will review the program first before making that decision.“We had some really good input from parents,” said Hazen. “They really helped guide us. The program seemed to be a good fit for us.”

By Patti Carpenter