Although the Healthy Youth Act will finally update decades old state sex education curriculum, Somerville won’t see much of a change.
On Jan. 16, the Senate voted to advance S. 2475, An Act relative to healthy youth, to the House for consideration.
Under the bill, which passed 33-2, the State House News Service reported that schools offering sex education would be required to provide medically accurate and age-appropriate information, including LGBTQ-inclusive material and discussion of consent, while allowing parents to opt their children out.
Supporters said that existing state law, last updated in 1999, does not guarantee that materials taught are medically accurate, making an update necessary to ensure the health and well-being of students.
“If we do not teach this in our schools, our kids still learn about this in an inaccurate way,” said Sen. Sal DiDomenico, an Everett Democrat who was the bill’s lead sponsor. “They’re learning from their friends, from their peers, and learning information that is not inaccurate and could be dangerous for their health.”
Somerville Public Schools, however, have been using the more recently updated federal sex education standards to shape its curriculum, called “Get Real.”
The Healthy Youth Act would require Massachusetts schools that offer sex education to ensure the curriculum covers reproduction and sexual development, how to discuss safe sexual activity, human development changes, anatomy, the benefits of abstinence and importance of contraceptives, healthy relationship and communication skills and would need to affirm that people have different sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions while offering information about resources for LGBTQ students.
Somerville’s got it covered
According to Sheila Freitas-Haley, Somerville’s supervisor of Health and Physical Education, the Somerville curriculum already covers these areas and includes an (albeit rarely used) opt out measure.
“We all know health curriculum in Massachusetts needs to be revamped,” she said. “But Somerville is a progressive place and they have been right there with federal standards the whole entire time. [Superintendent] Mary [Skipper] and the School Committee is all for promoting health.”
SPS has four health educators at the high school, but just one health educator at the K-8 level that travels to each school with an educator from Cambridge Health Alliance. To make the most of limited manpower, and to increase student opportunities for field learning, the SPS Health Department is piloting an out-of-school learning program with four Somerville High students. The students will be trained in the CHA program, Making Proud Choices, and Somerville’s curriculum, and, for a health credit, will go with the two educators to classrooms at the East Somerville Community School, West Somerville Neighborhood School, and Brown School to assist in teaching certain modules.
“Moving forward in the new high school, we’re hoping for more opportunities for kids, especially seniors, to get out there,” said Freitas-Haley. “We are giving kids an experience which they could take on to college level....One of my students was contemplating being a teacher, so this is an opportunity to see what the day-to-day is like.”
Freitas-Haley hopes this will create a cycle of students: middle school students that were taught by high school students will hopefully decide to teach it when they reach senior year. The department is also seeking to enhance its curriculum by working with bilingual educators and teachers that represent the same demographic as the students.
“When we were talking about this pilot over the summer, I was excited because: Who do kids listen to? They listen to each other,” said Freitas-Haley. “This is so great for a senior – to go back and give that to their community in a way that will be memorable and isn’t the typical sit in a room, industrial thinking model – it’s great for a transcript.”
The legislation now goes to the House, where it has died without a vote each of the past two sessions following Senate approval. House Speaker Robert DeLeo has not committed to taking it up. In May he said the topic was “on our radar to take a look at,” noting that the language of the bill has evolved. A House version of the bill has 97 representatives listed as cosponsors this session, compared to more than 70 last term.
This story includes reporting from Chris Lisinski of the State House News Service.