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Board discusses health curriculum adoption; high-school textbook flagged for review
Summary
Administrators and teachers reviewed the district's health curriculum. Middle-school core lessons will stay limited; high-school adoption may be postponed pending review of a new textbook and teacher input, with concerns raised about tone and specific content.
District staff and teachers discussed the proposed health curriculum at the June 18 work session, focusing on middle-school core lessons and a contentious high-school textbook that staff said may require further review.
Administrators said middle-school health is delivered as a half-year course taught once a week and that the district will stick to core lessons rather than broader extension activities; the meeting noted that opt-out provisions exist for K— sections of the curriculum. Teachers present said the curriculum includes material on vaping, sexting and other topics school staff consider important.
At the high school level, staff said they have concerns about a particular ODE-reviewed textbook previously used in the state. One administrator said the earlier edition read more like a parenting or advocacy guide than a neutral textbook, and she raised examples such as a passage recommending reduced meat consumption for climate reasons. Staff said the publisher revised the text to meet ODE criteria, and a new edition is expected for preview next week. Administrators recommended postponing any immediate high-school adoption to allow teachers to review the new material and to involve high-school health teachers in the adoption discussion.
Staff noted classroom-level constraints: Eagle Point currently teaches health as a full-year freshman course (not split semesters at other districts), and additions of state-required personal-finance and civics requirements limit schedule flexibility for extra health semesters.
No formal adoption vote occurred at the work session; administrators asked for teacher review of the revised text and said they would continue the adoption process with teacher input and potential independent adoption steps if the district chooses.
