Student Handbook - McKinney Independent School District

Granting Permission to Receive Parenting and Paternity AwarenessInstructionAs a parent, if your child is under the age of 14, you must grant permission for your child toreceive instruction in the district’s parenting and paternity awareness program or your child willnot be allowed to participate in the instruction. This program, developed by the Office of theTexas Attorney General and the State Board of Education (SBOE), is incorporated into thedistrict’s health education classes.Removing a Student Temporarily from the ClassroomYou may remove your child temporarily from the classroom if an instructional activity in whichyour child is scheduled conflicts with your religious or moral beliefs. The removal cannot be forthe purpose of avoiding a test and may not extend for an entire semester. Further, your child mustsatisfy grade-level and graduation requirements as determined by the school and by the TexasEducation Agency.Removing a Student from Human Sexuality InstructionAs a part of the district’s curriculum, students receive instruction related to human sexuality. TheSchool Health Advisory Council (SHAC) is involved with the selection of course materials forsuch instruction.State law requires that any instruction related to human sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases,or human immunodeficiency virus or acquired immune deficiency syndrome must:• Present abstinence from sexual activity as the preferred choice of behavior in relationshipto all sexual activity for unmarried persons of school age;• Devote more attention to abstinence from sexual activity than to any other behavior;• Emphasize that abstinence is the only method that is 100 percent effective in preventingpregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and the emotional trauma associated withadolescent sexual activity.• Direct adolescents to a standard of behavior in which abstinence from sexual activitybefore marriage is the most effective way to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitteddiseases and;• If included in the content of the curriculum, teach contraception and condom use in termsof human use reality rates instead of theoretical laboratory rates.In accordance with state law, below is a summary of the district’s curriculum regardinghuman sexuality instruction:• MISD has developed a scope and sequence of growth and development and relatedbody changes which begins in 4 th grade during the month of May. The 4 th gradescience curriculum will include a hygiene segment and a video shown by the nurse.The focus in fourth grade will be body changes that occur during puberty/growth anddevelopment and their related hygiene issues. The PowerPoint will include factsspecific to male and female anatomical changes. The scope and sequence willcontinue in 5 th grade with emphasis on the endocrine and reproductive body systems.The 5 th grade will cover the endocrine body system in science followed by aPowerPoint and video focused on puberty and the reproductive system. Grades 6-12utilize information from the health textbooks and Choosing the Best, abstinencebasedsex education program, incorporated into the health/PE curriculum.- 5 -