Senate Bill 65

Here’s a huge thanks to Tim Wesco from CPR!

We at Creating Positive Relationships wanted to take a moment to explain some changes that will impact parents and guardians of Hoosier students.

We are referring to Senate Bill 65.

Senate Bill 65 was drafted to keep parents of Hoosier students informed about instruction pertaining to human sexuality. Awesome!

In its original language, though, Senate Bill 65 would have required a written consent form from parents/guardians to allow their student’s inclusion in any instruction surrounding human sexuality.

Instruction like CPR.

But how many times have permission slips gone home and, through the chaos of life, the form slipped through the cracks, never getting signed and/or returned?

Too many, particularly in middle school and high school where parents may not be quite as involved.

This concerned all of us here at CPR as we worried students might miss out on invaluable lessons about healthy and unhealthy relationships due to a failure to return a form. We believe all children should receive instruction on elements of relationships such as

• Taking time to get to know someone’s character.
• How to identify dating violence.
• The importance of respect in any relationship.
• How physical intimacy impacts a relationship.
• And so much more.

We contacted Representative Timothy Wesco who graciously heard our concerns and acted on them!

Thanks to Rep. Timothy Wesco, parents will still need to sign consent (or opt-out) forms, BUT after multiple notifications from the school to the parent/guardian, students will be included if schools receive no communication from parents/guardians, instead of automatically excluded.

Hooray!

While this element protects students from being withheld important information due to a missing form, Senate Bill 65 doesn’t stop there. It also requires schools provide parents with the opportunity to see the content and nature of the instruction, including lesson summaries and activities accompanying those lessons.

What does this mean?

Senate Bill 65 was written to place power in the hands of Hoosier parents/guardians! We at CPR are so thankful for that.

Life happens. It gets busy as many things tend to occupy time and attention. Forms get lost, both by adults and students, but lost forms should NOT keep people from receiving information like these students did:

“CPR showed me that I am not the only one choosing abstinence. I feel more confident in my decision and I now know that I am not alone. When we started I was not confident, but now I am. Thank you!”

“Thanks to CPR, I’m not being beat, yelled at, or anything anymore. I left him and found someone so much better.”

“Before CPR, I thought sex was something you had to do in a relationship, but now I know it’s a gift that you get to pick who you give it to. So, make wise decisions.”

Students like these thank Rep. Timothy Wesco, and we at CPR do, too!

P.s. We look forward to providing even more information to parents/guardians in the future. We are working on improving our course descriptions on our website as well as creating new webinars to keep parents/guardians informed on what their children are learning from CPR. Stay tuned!