Minnesota鈥檚 local school boards have long held the power to decide how kids are taught about a variety of health education topics, including human development, nutrition, sex, child abuse prevention and other issues. That power, though, is about to shift.
New statewide standards set to phase in over the next three years will put health education benchmarks in place across all public K-12 schools. Beyond the basics, the new standards will take on topics including sexual abuse prevention.
鈥淲e need our young people to know these things,鈥 said Steve Chapin, who teaches first aid, nutrition, sex education and human development to middle and high school students in the St. James district, two hours southwest of the Twin Cities.
