Yesterday a letter came home in the Oh So Fiesty One’s (OSFO) backpack from PS 321’s principal, Liz Phillips. In it, she informed the parents that the New York City Department of Education has developed a new HIV/AIDS curriculum for grades k-12. The curriculum is designed to raise awareness about ways to stay healthy and to help develop empathy for people who are ill. OSFO is already a little nervous about these health classes the teachers are talking about. "What am I going to learn in health class," she asked me yesterday. Today, she asked me if the boys and girls were going to be separated when they talk about it. I told her that I didn’t know.

At PS 321, there will be age appropriate lessons that help children children learn about staying  safe, making good choices and being healthy. In the upper grades, HIV/AIDS will be talked about more explicitly. Children will learn in science how the immune system works and will have classroom based lessons on how to resist negative peer pressure.

They will be teaching these lessons as part of the health education and science curriculum in late April and early May. They will also be sending home a blue pamphlet for parents from the Department of Education on HIV/AIDS education.

The schools are holding meetings for parents about the new curriculum. There’s one at PS 321 on April 4, at 8:40 a.m. in the Auditorium to discuss the rationale for the curriculum and the kinds of lessons they will be teaching each grade.