Education in Schools

Hello!!

I am interested in getting in touch with some local schools (middle and high) to speak about rising issues re: sexual assaults, domestic violence, etc. I feel that if this population is targeted early, it could potentially prevent some of the rising statistics on these issues. I haven't really done any public health work before and didn't know if this was something I could arrange alone (without a hospital or organization facilitating the meeting). Can I personally contact a school system to ask about speaking to the students? How does this process work with venturing into teaching to this population?

Thanks in advance for your advice : )

I know in my son's middle/high school district this is covered during the marking period quarter of health supplemented by the school nurse and local experts such as the county domestic violence/assault crisis counseling team volunteers. The health & physical education teachers are qualified in this area of the curriculum through inservices and continuing ed. Most certified school nurses (min RN BSN plus post bac certification often MSN) are also qualified & certified by the state department of education to teach health and assist the phys ed teachers with resources.

So in my area/state this is already taught based on mandated HS/MS public school health curriculum. You would need to be approved by the county superintendent and district board of ed in my area but there isn't really a need

Ok, thank you. I was speaking to some younger family members and was shocked when they had told me that all throughout school sexual assault issues were not discussed once. These topics weren't introduced until college age. As we all know, this issue can occur at much younger ages and some are simply ignorant to the issue. Maybe I could just push to add some things to the curriculum in my area. Thanks for your info!

If your family members are college aged now it's highly likely that the curriculum has been updated already. There is push for national core curriculum standards. The state sets the minimum standards and followed up at the county/regional district level. Individual teachers and schools do not determine nor do they make curriculum changes. The schools develop teaching plans that meet the state DoE standards.

Here you go from the NYS version of core curriculum standards for health education at the grade 5-8 level that is mandated to be covered in all public schools;

demonstrate a variety of problem solving, communication and

stress management skills to address health compromising behaviors such as fad dieting, alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use, early sexual involvement and violent behavior

Source: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/sss/schoolhealth/schoolhealtheducation/healthPEFACSLearningStandards.pdf

Here's another version of the core standards, the personal safety education is now started in kindergarten health classes. These are national curriculum standards adopted by most state departments of education:

http://www.ped.state.nm.us/standards/Health/Health%20Education%20StandardsK-4.pdf

Great! Thank you for the information! Some family members I asked are college aged now and I have many that are many different age groups. I have asked them all, in appropriate ways for the younger ones of course, if they had any education and most said no. Maybe it could have also been d/t the fact that they were embarrassed and didn't want to talk to me about it too. I'll definitely read up on the national and local standards. Thanks again for the information!