A serious problem will receive official school attention, thanks to a new bill passed that affects local schools’ cirriculum. Sub. H.B. 19 of the 128th G.A. requires schools to adopt a policy to address dating violence and include dating violence education for seventh through 12th grade within the school's health education curriculum. Local school districts have each addressed this issue in their own way.
Coventry Local Schools provide students with a violence education program through health courses, which address dating violence, according to Lisa Blough, Coventry's director of curriculum and instruction. All teachers at Coventry schools have recently completed at least four hours of child abuse training. The training involved many types of abuse, including dating violence prevention.
"Many of our practices are currently aligned with the goals and objectives of the 'Tina Croucher Act' or H.B. 19," said Blough. "We are investigating the possibility of utilizing additional curriculum-based resources to support H.B. 19 and ensure that our students are fully aware of the seriousness of this issue."
Lake Local School District covers the topic of domestic violence in seventh and eighth grade guidance classes. This includes a visit from a speaker from the domestic violence project. In high school, the issue of domestic violence is covered in health classes, which are required for graduation. According to John McAllister, Lake's director of instruction, the health curriculum currently addresses teen dating and violence through a program that Stark Pregnancy Services operates. The program lasts two weeks and deals with characteristics of healthy and unhealthy relationships, how to react in situations that involve dating violence, and the science of violence in relationships.
"Springfield local school district already addressed much of the required content in their health classes for eighth through 10th grade," said Ann Philips,
Springfield's director of curriculum and instruction. Springfield schools address domestic violence content through guidance lessons held by counselors for grades 4-8. Also for grades 4-8 are special small group sessions held for students deal with abusive experiences either at home or at school.
"The United Streaming offering through the Summit County ESC is wonderful for video resources, lesson plans and other curriculum content from Discovery Ed site," said Philips.
The schools have projectors and internet connections in health rooms to show educational videos. The equipment can also be used by guidance counselors for group sessions. The Springfield counselors attended a workshop in Columbus on abusive relationships and plan to incorporate the information they gained into the school district's programs.
"We wrote grants to support these trainings. Our counselors will then offer sessions in the content addressed in H.B. 19 to our staff. Then we will refine what is offered in grades 4-12 through assemblies, counselor presentations or health classes," said Philips.
