N.Y. Education Law § 804: Health education regarding mental health, alcohol, drugs, tobacco abuse and the prevention and detection of certain cancers

§ 804. Health education regarding mental health, alcohol, drugs,

tobacco abuse and the prevention and detection of certain cancers. 1.

All schools shall ensure that their health education programs recognize

the multiple dimensions of health by including mental health and the

relation of physical and mental health so as to enhance student

understanding, attitudes and behaviors that promote health, well-being

and human dignity.

2. All schools shall include, as an integral part of health education,

instruction so as to discourage the misuse and abuse of alcohol, tobacco

and other drugs and promote attitudes and behavior that enhance health,

well being, and human dignity.

3. Instruction regarding alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs shall be

included in the health education provided for all elementary school

pupils and shall be taught by the regular classroom teachers or by

teachers certified to teach health education. Such instruction shall be

designed according to the needs and abilities of the pupils at

successive grade levels with the purpose of developing desirable health

behavior, attitudes, and knowledge as well as self-reliance and problem

solving capacity.

4. Instruction regarding alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, in

addition to continued health guidance in the junior high school grades

and the senior high schools, shall be an integral part of a required

health education course at each of these levels in the secondary schools

curriculum. Students shall be required to demonstrate knowledge in the

subject area through the use of a test, graded project or report, or any

other means prescribed by the school authorities regarding alcohol,

drugs, and tobacco. Any such course shall be taught by teachers holding

a certificate to teach health. Related courses in the secondary school

curriculum shall be taught in a manner supportive of health education

regarding alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. In addition, instruction

regarding the dangers of driving while under the influence of alcohol or

drugs shall be an integral part of a required health education course in

the senior high schools. Such instruction shall be provided in all

senior high schools whether or not these schools also provide driver

education courses.

5. Instruction regarding methods of prevention and detection of

certain cancers, including but not limited to breast cancer, skin

cancer, testicular cancer and other cancers where certain preventive

measures have become generally accepted and certain detection methods

have been adopted and recommended generally to the public. Such

instruction shall be an integral part of a required health education

course at the senior high school level, in addition to continued health

guidance in senior high schools. Any such course shall be taught by

teachers holding a certificate to teach health.

6. a. The commissioner may prescribe in regulations such health

education courses which include instruction regarding alcohol, tobacco,

and other drugs as the commissioner may deem necessary and desirable for

the welfare of pupils and the community. The contents may be varied to

meet the needs of particular school districts, or portions thereof, and

need not be uniform throughout the state, provided, however, that school

districts shall utilize either the curriculum for health education

instruction regarding alcohol, tobacco and other drugs prescribed by the

commissioner or a course approved by the commissioner in accordance with

criteria established by the commissioner. The commissioner is authorized

to make recommendations to the board of regents beginning December

first, two thousand fourteen and every three years thereafter relating

to the modernization of such instruction required pursuant to

subdivision one of this section, to include the most up to date age

appropriate information available regarding the misuse and abuse of

alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, including but not limited to heroin

and opioids. Such instruction shall include, but not be limited to,

information regarding drugs and other substances that are more prevalent

among school aged youth. Such recommendations shall be the result of a

collaboration between the department, the office of alcoholism and

substance abuse services and the department of health. If the board of

regents adopts such curriculum, the curriculum requirement shall take

effect no later than the next school year after such curriculum has been

adopted.

b. The commissioner shall make available an interpersonal violence

prevention education package for grades kindergarten through twelve,

which package may consist of student pamphlets, parent pamphlets,

videotapes and other informative materials to be distributed to school

districts, and shall encourage the use of such material as part of the

health or other related curricula or programs.

c. The regents shall review the health curriculum requirements in

existence on the effective date of this paragraph for the purpose of

streamlining such curriculum and identifying any outdated components

that may be eliminated or consolidated in order to ensure that students

have sufficient time and instruction to develop skills to address issues

of violence prevention and mental health. To the extent appropriate, the

regents shall modify the existing curriculum to provide greater focus on

the development of skills, by no later than middle school, that are

needed to recognize, cope with and address potentially violent incidents

including an understanding of student roles in emergency situations and

other related skills designed to reduce the threat of violence in

schools.

7. School authorities shall provide the needed facilities, time, and

place for the instruction set forth herein and shall provide learning

aids and curriculum resource materials which contribute to effective

teaching methods and learning in health education regarding alcohol,

tobacco, and other drugs.

8. All pre-service training programs in the state for elementary

teachers shall include adequate preparation regarding the instruction in

alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs set forth herein, and no teacher shall

be licensed except upon satisfactory demonstration of the competencies

included in the institutional proposals approved by the department.

9. Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to diminish or

impair the duties of the commissioner with respect to the continuing

program for critical health problems established by chapter seven

hundred eighty-seven of the laws of nineteen hundred sixty-seven as

amended. The commissioner shall coordinate actions taken under authority

of this section with the provisions of said chapter as they relate to

health education in schools, inservice training and training programs,

and curriculum or syllabus development regarding the deleterious effects

resulting from the use, misuse, and abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and other

drugs.