Clarke County presents draft Family Life Education curriculum; committee recommends omitting topics already covered in health/SEL

Jessica Nail, the district director of curriculum and instruction, and other staff presented a draft Family Life Education (FLE) curriculum to the Clarke County Public Schools Board on Sept. 22, 2025, describing state requirements, sample lessons for elementary and high school, survey feedback and a proposed opt‑out process for parents.

The presentation laid out the legal foundation for FLE. “The board of education shall develop standards of learning and curriculum guidelines for comprehensive sequential family life education curriculum in grades kindergarten through 12,” Nail said, quoting the relevant provisions in the Code of Virginia and Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) guidance that the draft follows.

Why it matters: the VDOE requires certain topics — including dating violence, human trafficking prevention, consent and personal boundaries — be taught at specified grade bands; the draft shows where those standards would appear in Clarke County’s lessons and how the district proposes to deliver them.

Staff said the draft pairs state standards (left-hand columns in the draft) with locally curated “essential knowledge, skills and processes” and identified who would teach each lesson.…