Centennial School Board adopts K‑12 health curriculum, approves comprehensive sexual‑health plan

The Centennial School Board on May 14 approved a K‑5 renewal of The Great Body Shop and a 6‑12 adoption of LiveWell Health as the district's core health curriculum and adopted a revised K‑12 comprehensive sexual‑health education plan required by state law.

District Director of Curriculum and Student Learning Maureen Callahan told the board the recommendations follow a multi‑step review and pilot that included teacher and student feedback. “Health is one of those subjects that is totally about providing, information, fact‑based information, so that students feel empowered to take care of themselves,” Callahan said during her presentation, summarizing the district’s process of reviewing state standards, piloting materials and collecting student responses.

Callahan said elementary teachers rated The Great Body Shop positively for engagement and lesson quality and recommended continuing it with local adaptations. For grades 6–12, the district recommended LiveWell Health after surveying just under 500 secondary students and collecting teacher feedback that praised visuals and scenarios but flagged some lessons as wordy and not always representative of students’ backgrounds.

Board members pressed staff on representativeness and on how the district will respond to opt‑outs. Director Stanley asked whether negative feedback tied to lesson length would decline after curriculum map revisions; Callahan said implementation adaptations can address those issues. Director Lynn asked whether specific student groups felt underrepresented; Callahan said the student survey was anonymous and she could not drill down to subgroups from the pilot data but recommended focusing on implementation strategies to increase representation.

Denise Wright, director of student services, and principal Marin Miller described how the district handles opt‑outs and credit. Principal Miller said the high school has had two opt‑outs in the past three years and staff have worked case‑by‑case to provide alternate assignments so students meet state standards: “What we've done is we've worked with the standards… and oftentimes the parent will say, 'Is there a different way that we could still meet this standard?'” Miller said. Callahan confirmed state and district guidelines allow parents to view materials and to opt students out of lessons; if a student is opted out of an entire required unit, families are responsible for providing compliant instruction under state law.

The updated comprehensive plan incorporates recent state requirements, including lessons on opioids and fentanyl identified in OAR 581 (Division 22) and clarifies communication and parental guidelines. Callahan said the district will distribute ODE‑provided opioid/fentanyl lessons to health teachers and prioritize year‑1 implementation adjustments.

Board members also asked about supplemental materials to increase cultural relevance. Callahan said the district is exploring curating culturally relevant current‑events content via Newsela, library‑based lesson packages and using AI tools to diversify materials, and noted the district has already procured supplemental resources for gender‑expansive and LGBTQ+ students under a recent ODE student success initiative.

The board voted to adopt the K‑12 curriculum recommendations and the 2025–2027 comprehensive sexual‑health education plan. Callahan said staff will begin year‑1 implementation and provide updates on adaptations and supports.

Implementation notes: district staff will share lesson access with parents, clarify opt‑out procedures, and collect ongoing student/teacher feedback to refine pacing and representation during the first year of rollout.