Dear Parents/Guardians:

The State Board of Education’s Comprehensive Health and Physical Education Program Rule (#160-4-2-12) and Georgia’s State-Adopted Health Standards require schools to include family life education, disease prevention, handling peer pressure, and promoting self-esteem in the health curriculum taught at the middle and high schools.  Effingham County’s curriculum is titled Be SMART (Safe, Mature, Abstinent, Responsible Teens).  At the middle and high school levels, abstinence from sexual activity until marriage is emphasized during instruction.

A local review committee meets periodically to examine materials for the curriculum to ensure resources reflect age-level appropriateness and Effingham County’s community values.  This review committee, as mandated by law, is composed primarily of non-teaching parents who have children enrolled in our public schools, but also includes educators, health professionals, community representatives, and two high school students.  The same process approves any additions or deletions of materials for the comprehensive health program.

If you wish to review the material that has been approved for your child’s grade level, please contact your school’s instructional supervisor.  The curriculum and resources will be available for review by parents/guardians August 10-19, 2020.

This letter serves to notify you that the course of instruction described above will be taught to all students in designated grades and courses. However, parents or legal guardians may exercise the option of excluding their children from the course of study.

 If a parent or guardian chooses to exclude their children, they are assuming the responsibility of teaching him/her the state objectives, which may appear on state-mandated tests at some point during his/her school years.  

Please complete the form at the bottom of the letter.