Many of our School Partners, Community Members and Parents are asking about the recent sex education legislation signed by Governor Pritzker on August 20th, Senate Bill 818. We are reaching out to assure you that Candor Health Education has the programming available to meet the requirements of the bill as well as offer some suggestions for answering parent questions regarding this new legislation.
Senate Bill 818 provided more specific guidance as to what should be addressed in schools that teach sex education in grades 6-12. This bill helps to bring IL sex education into alignment with National Sexuality Education Standards, by including newly required topics. Here is a list of sex education topics from SB 818: consent and healthy relationships, anatomy and physiology, puberty and adolescent development, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation and identity, sexual health, interpersonal violence, internet safety including social media, and sexting.
Fortunately, Candor Health Education had already been using the National Sexuality Education Standards as a guide during the complete redevelopment of our sex education programs. Through the use of a blended learning model, Candor increased the student learning time beyond our typical 90-minute in-school program, which allowed us to include the additional topics that are listed in SB 818. Also, we added two entirely new sex education programs, Puberty II (5th-6th grade) and Teen Sexual Health II (7th and 8th grade) which enabled us to cover more of the standards. A complete list of the standards addressed by Candor Health Education can be found for each individual program, on the Candor website.
Following the passage of SB 818, some of our partners have expressed that they are experiencing more interest and questions coming from parents regarding sex education. Candor is happy to support you with parent education as well. We can provide schools recordings of parent overviews for any of the sex education programs that Candor offers. Typically, we find that parents just want to see the slides and images that will be used during the program which tends to allay most fears. If preferred, we offer live virtual parent overviews in which parents can see the content and ask questions of our health educators in real time. Also, for each Candor Health Education program, we have parent information pages on our website. These pages provide a short informational video, as well as a list of FAQs about each particular program. Parents may also find the list of program standards helpful, as it also includes examples of how each standard is addressed during the program.
Please do not hesitate to reach out with any specific questions or concerns regarding SB 818 and Candor Health Education programs. We are happy to partner with you in keeping kids healthy and safe!
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