La. Admin. Code tit. 28 § LIX-309

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 8, August 20, 2024

Section LIX-309 - Requirements

A. The Louisiana Department of Education in Bulletin 741, Louisiana Handbook for School Administrators, sets the hours required in health and physical education.

B. For grades 1-6, 150 minutes of instruction per week are required in health, music, arts, and crafts (LAC 28:CXV.2313.F).

C. In grades 7 and 8, 250 minutes of instruction per week are required in health, music, arts and crafts (LAC 28:CXV.2313.F).

D. Grades 9-12: In order to graduate from high school, public school students must earn a 1/2 unit in health education (LAC 28:CXV.2319.C). A minimum of 3863 minutes of health instruction shall be taught (LAC 28:CXV.907.C). Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) (LAC 28:CXV.2347.B) and instruction in adoption awareness must be taught during health education (LAC 28:CXV.2347.C). Nonpublic schools require two units of combined health and physical education for graduation (LAC 28:CXV.2109.C).

E. The maximum class size for Health and Physical Education in grades K-8 and in Physical Education I and II shall be 40. For Health Education at the high school level, which is taught in a classroom setting, the maximum number of students is 33 (LAC 28:CXV. 913.C).

F. Each local education agency must include in the curriculum a program of substance abuse prevention, to include informational, effective, and counseling strategies, and information designed to reduce the likelihood that students shall injure themselves or others through the misuse and abuse of chemical substances (LAC 28:CXV. 2305.F). Each school district determines the content area in which to include substance abuse instruction. It is often included in health education or life science.

1. The substance abuse programs and curricula must also include procedures for identifying students who exhibit signs of misuse or abuse of such substances and procedures for referral for counseling or treatment.

2. Elementary schools shall provide a minimum of 16 contact hours of substance abuse prevention education each school year. Instruction shall be provided within a comprehensive school health program and in accordance with the state substance abuse curriculum (Bulletin 1864) or through substance abuse programs approved by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE).

3. Secondary schools must provide a minimum of eight contact hours of substance abuse prevention education each school year for grades 10-12 and 16 hours for grade 9. Instruction shall be provided within a comprehensive school health program and in accordance with the state substance abuse curriculum (Bulletin 1864) or through substance abuse programs approved by the BESE.

G.R.S. 17:275 states that all public middle and senior high schools shall provide instruction to all female students in the proper procedure for breast self-examination and the need for an annual Pap test for cervical cancer. Such instruction may be provided in the context of courses in the study of health, physical education, or such other appropriate curriculum or instruction period as may be determined by the respective local school boards. This instruction may be taught by a school nurse, physician, or competent medical instructor. The local school boards shall adopt rules and regulations necessary for the implementation of this program of instruction. No student shall be required to take such instruction if his parent or tutor submits a written statement indicating that such instruction conflicts with the religious beliefs of the student. Added by Acts 1980, No. 789, §1.

H. In 2001, through Senate Bill No. 792, guidelines were established for the development of youth suicide prevention programs as required in R.S. 17:282.3. Some features of this bill include the involvement of the Department of Education in developing standards for these programs, classroom instruction integrated into the curriculum, and access to prevention services. Some of the instructional topics suggested for prevention in S.B. No. 792 are:

1. encourage sound decision-making and promote ethical development;

2. increase student awareness of the relationship between drug and alcohol use and suicide;

3. teach students to recognize signs of suicidal tendencies; and

4. inform students of the available community suicide prevention services.

I. In 2009, House Bill No. 319 established that each city, parish, or other local public school board shall provide each school year, to high school students enrolled in Health Education, at least thirty minutes of age and grade appropriate classroom instruction relative to the state's safe haven relinquishment law, Children's Code Articles 1149 through 1160, which provides a mechanism whereby any parent may relinquish the care of an infant who is not more than thirty days old to the state in safety and anonymity and without fear of prosecution. Such information shall include, but not be limited to providing students with the following information:

1. an explanation the relinquishment of an infant means to give over possession or control of the infant to other specified persons as provided by the law with the settled intent to forego all parental responsibilities;

2. the process to be followed by a parent making relinquishment;

3. the general locations where the infant may be left in the care of certain others;

4. the toll-free number established by the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services to direct individuals to designated emergency care facilities;

5. the available options if a parent is unable to travel to a designated emergency care facility; and

6. the process by which the relinquishing parent may reclaim parental rights to the infant and the timelines established for taking this action.

J. In 2010, House Bill 46, Act 321, established that each school year the governing authority of each public school shall provide to students in grades seven through twelve, enrolled in health education, age and grade appropriate classroom instruction relative to dating violence. Such instruction shall include but need not be limited to providing students with the following information:

1. the definition of "dating violence", which is a pattern of behavior where one person threatens to use, or actually uses, physical, sexual, verbal, or emotional abuse to control his or her dating partner;

2. dating violence warning signs;

3. characteristics of healthy relationships.

K. The above measures easily fit within the health education curriculum that is based on these health education content standards.

La. Admin. Code tit. 28, § LIX-309

Promulgated by the Department of Education, Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Student and School Performance, LR 28:1944 (September 2002), amended by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, LR 37:2099 (July 2011).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 17:24.4 et seq.