AB 728

This bill requires the Department of Public Instruction to work with the

Department of Children and Families, the Department of Health Services, the

Council on Domestic Abuse, and advocates from statewide organizations

representing victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence, to adopt a policy

governing the prevention of and appropriate responses to teen dating violence and

sexual violence when pupils are at school or while pupils are under the supervision

of a school authority. DPI must adopt this policy and make it available to school

districts by no later than July 1, 2024.

The bill also requires DPI to incorporate a teen dating violence and sexual

violence prevention curriculum into its model health problems education

curriculum. Under the bill, DPI's teen dating violence and sexual violence

prevention curriculum must include various topics, including skills for identifying

teen dating violence, abusive behavior, physical intimidation, stalking, physical

abuse, sexual violence, and cyberbullying; appropriate and safe ways for teen

bystanders to intervene in teen dating violence, sexual violence, and incidents of

stalking and to seek help from supportive adults on behalf of victims; the meaning

of consent, how to communicate consent, the absence of consent, and how to identify

consent and the absence of consent; and characteristics of healthy relationships.

By January 1, 2025, each school board must adopt DPI's policy governing the

prevention of and appropriate responses to teen dating violence and sexual violence

or create its own substantially similar policy, and by July 1, 2025, each school board

must adopt and incorporate DPI's teen dating violence and sexual violence

prevention curriculum or create and incorporate its own substantially similar

curriculum. Under the bill, a school board's policy must require a teacher to notify

a pupil's parent or guardian if the teacher knows or has reason to believe the pupil

was involved in an incident of teen dating violence or sexual violence that occurred

at school or under the supervision of a school authority.

Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, the bill requires school boards to provide

age-appropriate instruction about teen dating violence prevention to pupils at least

once in grades 6 to 8 and once in grades 9 to 12. Under the bill, before the first day

of the school term, school boards must provide parents and guardians a notice about

instruction in teen dating violence and sexual violence prevention education planned

for that school term. The notice must include 1) that the written and audiovisual

educational materials used in the instruction are available for inspection and a copy

of the materials is available upon request and 2) that a parent or guardian may

request in writing that their child not receive the instruction.

Finally, under the bill, school boards must require school district employees

who have direct contact with pupils in grades 6 to 12 to attend teen dating violence

and sexual violence prevention training within six months of beginning employment

and again at least once every five years.