Health Education

The State Board of Education approved the South Carolina Academic Standards for Health and Safety Education on July 8, 2009. These standards provide the scope and sequence for age appropriate comprehensive health education. The SC Standards are based on the 2007 National Health Education Standards.

Resources

• South Carolina State Adopted Instructional Materials Textbooks

Teen Health – Glencoe, Bronson, Cleary and Hubbard

Sex Can Wait – Pennie Core-Gebhart, M.E.D., Susan J. Hart, Michael Young, Ph.D., and Tamera Young, University of Arkansas, 2005

Erin’s Law Instructional Units and Resources
Comprehensive Health Education Instructional Units and Resources for Sexual Abuse and Sexual Assault Prevention, South Carolina Department of Education

• SC Academic Standards for Health and Safety Education – (July 2009) (445 kb, PDF)
• Comprehensive Health Education Act – Title 59 Education, Chapter 32 (South Carolina Code of Laws)
• South Carolina Grade Level Health and Safety Education Curriculum Guidelines
  The South Carolina Grade Level Health and Safety Education Curriculum Guidelines are aligned to the 2009 Standards document. The guide contains essential questions, teaching activities, and assessment strategies that address performance indicators within the standards.

Gavin's Law

Gavin's Law (H.3583) is legislation that makes sexual extortion, the act of blackmailing someone using sexually explicit images or videos, a felony offense and an aggravated felony if the victim is a minor, vulnerable adult, or if the victim suffers bodily injury or death directly related to the crime. In 2022, 17-year-old Gavin Guffey was a victim of sexual extortion, resulting in him taking his own life. 

The bill reads in part, "Local school districts shall collaborate with the State Department of Education, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, and the Attorney General’s office, as appropriate, to implement a policy to educate and notify students of the provisions of this act which includes adequate notice to students, parents or guardians, the public, and school personnel of the change in law.  The State Department of Education must file a report as to the status of the adoption and implementation of the education policies under this act to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, annually by July first of each year."

Representative Brandon Guffey, father of the bill's namesake, recorded the following messages that districts can implement and share with schools.