Wynard and Walters ’14 give lecture on new state education mandates

Tammy Wynard, North Central College visiting instructor of health and physical education and coordinator of the health education and wellness programs, was invited by the Illinois School Health Association Board to present at the April 2014 annual conference held in Lombard. She, along with Alyssa Walters ’14, health and physical education major, spoke with more than 50 health education teachers and administrators about the new Illinois mandates in sexual health education.
 
The session provided an overview of the 2014 Illinois Sexual Health Education Mandate that indicates if a school district chooses to provide sex education courses, curricula is required to be developmentally and age appropriate, medically accurate, evidence-based and complete. Wynard and Walters then broke down the definitions of each, giving examples of what medically accurate, developmentally and age appropriate, and complete means according to the mandate.

They also provided steps for approaching administrators or parents who may be in opposition to the curriculum, as well as accountability expectations from the regional and state Offices of Education were discussed.

The session included information and resources on the newly enacted Erin’s Law, which requires schools Pre-K through 12th grade to provide sexual abuse and assault awareness at every grade level.
 
Wynard joined North Central’s faculty in 2011. She earned a B.S. in community health education/speech communications from Illinois State University and an M.S. in school and college health education from Indiana University.