VERONA — Augusta County is considering adding, as a supplemental lesson plan in middle school health classes, a section on human trafficking. It will be part of the Family Life Education curriculum.
The Augusta County School Board was briefed on the topic at its recent retreat.
Human trafficking is defined by the Virginia Department of Education as the act of people profiting from the control and exploitation of others, both in the form of sex trafficking and labor trafficking. In the most recent update to Virginia’s Standards of Learning, a section on human trafficking was added, which is the reason Augusta County is exploring adding this lesson plan.
Sarah Melton, the school division’s assistant superintendent of instruction, told the board that there is not enough material in the current curriculum Augusta County uses to cover the new Standards of Learning at the middle school level on the topic of human trafficking.
Melton said she felt the standards were covered at the elementary level, where the focus is more on stranger danger and online safety. She also felt it was covered at the high school level.
“Middle school is where we’re seeing the gap,” she said. “That is the age where, developmentally, those students are more risk taking and not quite as worldly and not quite as aware of those dangers.”
The curriculum is called the Prevention Project, created by Freekind, a faith-based nonprofit that works to prevent human trafficking and to support those who have been exploited. It’s currently being used by middle and high schools in Harrisonburg and Page County, and high schools in Rockingham County.
Augusta County officials met with Sabrina Dorman-Andrew, the executive director of New Creation VA, an nonprofit organization that, in part, provides prevention education to communities on human trafficking. While the Prevention Project is a national program, Dorman-Andrew works locally through her organization to partner with school districts to implement the program.
“Interesting about Augusta County is that we’ve had so many parents reach out and ask us, ‘Why are you not in our schools?'” Dorman-Andrew told The News Leader. That led to conversations with Augusta County school officials.
She will be doing an in-service with faculty and staff in Waynesboro Public Schools in March. The Office on Youth teaches the family life education curriculum in both Staunton and Waynesboro. Dorman-Andrew has been working with them to bring the program to those two city school divisions.
“Our hope is by the fall of 2024 we would love to have Staunton. Augusta, Waynesboro, all three school districts, be ready to roll out the Prevention Project,” Dorman-Andrew said. “But of course it is always dictated by the school boards.”
She is grateful that Augusta County is considering this for its middle schools, but she said the program works best if implemented in both middle and high school. The middle school curriculum is two 45-minute classes and the high school’s is six 45-minute classes. She said Harrisonburg rolled it out in middle schools first and, a year later, added it to its high school.
“The high school program is just way more in-depth,” Dorman-Andrew said. “it’s talking about sex trafficking in the U.S. It talks about decreasing demand, really talking about how pornography is driving the demand. These are really, really important, relevant conversations that need to be had with students.”
It was the consensus of the board to allow the formation of a committee to take a more in-depth look at the curriculum before making a recommendation to the board. If it got to that point and the board approved it, the lesson plan would be added to the curriculum for the start of the 2024-25 school year.
Because of copyright laws, only the committee will be able to view the full curriculum in the approval process. Once approved to be used in Augusta County Public Schools, parents would then have an opportunity to see the curriculum and decide whether or not to opt their child out of it.
Lauren Diggs is the prevention education manager for Freekind. She told The News Leader the program was created by a team of experts that include law enforcement personnel, trauma informed specialists, survivors, and educators.
“We’ve had all kinds of people reviewing our curriculum,” Diggs said. “We’ve also had cultural reviews of our curriculum, just to make sure it’s culturally relevant.”
Melton told the board that the lessons are age appropriate in an effort to make students aware of human trafficking and able to recognize and protect themselves.
Superintendent Eric Bond said he didn’t have exact costs of the program and there was a chance that New Creation VA might help offset some of that cost. The board would be given an exact cost if the committee votes to bring it back to the board.
Melton and Steve Cash, an instructional supervisor for Augusta County, will select the committee, which will include at least one board member and a parent representative.
Staunton School budget survey
As Staunton City School officials continue to work on the FY2025 budget, the division has asked residents for their input. A survey is available for feedback. The survey closes Monday, Feb. 12.
The questions being asked:
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What programs and/or initiatives do you feel should be budget priorities for funding? Please provide a brief rationale.
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If budget cuts have to be made, what recommendations would you make? Please provide a brief rationale.
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Do you have any recommendations on how the remaining federal pandemic relief funding should be spent? Please provide a brief rationale.
City Council held a joint work session with the School Board Jan. 25 to discuss the budget, renovations and new construction proposed at Shelburne Middle School, and before and after-school childcare.
“Like always, we’re going to plan to come in with a level budget,” said Staunton City Schools Superintendent Garrett Smith.
The work sessions and public hearings are listed below:
Thursday, March 28
Thursday, April 4
Thursday, April 11
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5 p.m., budget work session (joint meeting with City Schools)
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7 p.m., public hearing on all budget ordinances
Thursday, April 18
Thursday, April 25
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5 p.m., budget work session
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7 p.m., consideration of the City Council FY 2025 adopted budget and FY 2025-2029 capital improvement plan
The public is encouraged to participate in the budget process in various ways:
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— Patrick Hite is The News Leader’s education reporter. Story ideas and tips always welcome. Contact Patrick (he/him/his) at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @Patrick_Hite. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com.
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Augusta County considering human trafficking curriculum; Staunton seeks budget input
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