Family Life Education Parent Guide 2003-04 Parent Guide

The Family Life Education (FLE) curriculum for the Virginia Beach City Public Schools was developed through the cooperative efforts of school personnel and members of the Community Involvement Team. The program has been in place since 1991.

The Family Life Education program supports the traditional family, promotes parental involvement, fosters positive self-concepts, and provides mechanisms for coping with peer pressures and the stress of modern living. The program also includes, at age-appropriate grade levels, instruction on family living and community relationships, the value of postponing sexual activity until after marriage, human sexuality, human reproduction, and the prevention and effects of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. The program is taught by teachers who have received special training in the background goals and objectives of family life education.

Copies of the curriculum are available for review in all schools and public libraries. Detailed information relative to the lesson objectives, audiovisual materials, and instructional procedures are provided in the curriculum guide. A description of all resource materials used in the lessons is included in the curriculum guide.

Each school has copies of the resource materials used by its grade levels available for review, and all of the resource materials may be reviewed by appointment at the division’s Instructional Resource Center, 5120 Cleveland Street, Suite 100, Virginia Beach, VA 23462 (757-473-5124). Parents/guardians are encouraged to review the Family Life Education curriculum materials for their children’s grade level.

The Virginia Beach City Public Schools implements the Family Life Education program during the second semester. Prior to the start of the program, students receive information in their schools to bring home to their parents/guardians. This information includes the dates of instruction for the program as well as more specific information related to the Opt-Out Program. The Opt-Out Program is offered for parents/guardians to opt their children out of the Family Life Education Program if they do not wish them to participate in some or all of the program lessons. Since individual schools schedule the dates of their FLE instruction, deadlines for opting-out of the program will vary. However, requests in writing must be honored at any time of the program.

Family Life Education Program Lesson Objectives
The Family Life Education (FLE) program has been updated. No new objectives or topics have been added or deleted. The elementary level program has been updated to remove overlap of topics with other subject areas including the Health Education curriculum. Grades two and five will still have FLE objectives to teach while other grades will not.

At the middle school level, grades six and seven will have five lessons. At the high school level, grades nine and ten FLE will be taught in three blocks.

Implementation of the FLE program will be after Spring Break. If you have any questions, feel free to call Dr. Loneta Clement, director of Elementary Instructional Services, at (757) 427-4932 or Dr. Christine Caskey, director of Secondary Instructional Services, at (757) 427-4546.

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