North Carolina § 115C-81 - 25. Health education.

§ 115C-81. 25. Health education.

Comprehensive health education instruction shall be developed and taught to students from kindergarten through ninth grade. The State Board of Education shall do all of the following: Supervise the development and operation of the statewide comprehensive school health education program, including curriculum development, teacher professional development, promotion of training in teacher preparation programs, learning material review, and assessment and evaluation of local programs in the same manner as for other programs. Adopt objectives for the instruction of the subject areas listed in this section that are appropriate for each grade level. Approve textbooks and other materials incorporating these objectives that local school administrative units may purchase with State funds. The State Board of Education, through the Department of Public Instruction, shall, on a regular basis, review materials related to these objectives and distribute these reviews to local school administrative units for their information. This program includes age-appropriate instruction in the following subject areas, regardless of whether this instruction is described as, or incorporated into a description of, "family life education," "family health education," "health education," "family living," "health," "healthful living curriculum," or "self-esteem": Mental and emotional health. Drug and alcohol abuse prevention. Nutrition. Dental health. Environmental health. Family living. Consumer health. Disease control. Growth and development. First aid and emergency care, including the teaching of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the Heimlich maneuver by using hands-on training with mannequins so that students pass a test approved by the American Heart Association or American Red Cross. For the purposes of this subdivision, schools shall do all of the following: Use an instructional program developed by the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross, or other nationally recognized programs that is based on the most current national evidence-based emergency cardiovascular care guidelines for CPR. Maintain documentation in an electronic database that students have successfully completed CPR instruction to meet healthful living essential standards. Require successful completion of instruction in CPR to be a requirement for high school graduation by the 2014-2015 school year. Preventing sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, and other communicable diseases. As used in this section, "HIV/AIDS" means Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Reproductive health and safety education. Bicycle safety. Parental Review. - The State Board of Education shall make available to all local school administrative units for review by the parents and legal guardians of students enrolled at those units any State-developed objectives for instruction, any approved textbooks, the list of reviewed materials, and any other State-developed or approved materials that pertain to or are intended to impart information or promote discussion or understanding in regard to the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, to the avoidance of out-of-wedlock pregnancy, or to the reproductive health and safety education curriculum. The review period shall extend for at least 60 days before use. Duty of Local School Administrative Units. - Each local school administrative unit shall provide a comprehensive school health education program that meets all the requirements of this section and all the objectives established by the State Board. Each local board of education may expand on the subject areas to be included in the program and on the instructional objectives to be met. History (2017-126, s. 5.) Editor's Note. - Session Laws 2018-32, s. 5(a)-(c), provides: "(a) The Department of Public Instruction, under the direction of the State Superintendent and in consultation with the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health, shall do all of the following: "(1) Develop content standards for a mental health training program that includes all of the following topics: "a. Youth mental health. "b. Suicide prevention. "c. Substance use. "d. Sexual abuse prevention. "e. Sex trafficking prevention. "(2) Develop a model mental health training program using content and formatting that are evidence based or evidence informed. The model program shall be formatted to enable personnel to satisfy all training requirements through electronic delivery of instruction, videoconferencing, group in person training, or self-study, and shall address one or more of the required topics within a time frame consistent with best practices. "(3) Develop minimum requirements for a suicide risk referral protocol and develop a model suicide risk referral protocol that provides guidelines on identification of students at risk of suicide, or suspected victims of child abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, or sex trafficking. This model protocol shall include procedures and referral sources that address actions that can or must be taken in response to identification. "(b) The State Superintendent shall report the content standards for a mental health training program, model mental health training program, minimum requirements for a suicide risk referral protocol, and model suicide risk referral protocol to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee by October 15, 2018. "(c) The State Board of Education shall repeal its School-Based Mental Health Initiative policy, SHLT-003." §§ 115C-81.26 through 115C-81.29: Reserved for future codification purposes.