House Bill 0675

    Florida House of Representatives - 2000                 HB 675

        By Representative Crady






  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to required instruction;

  3         amending s. 233.061, F.S.; specifying content

  4         of required instruction in mental and emotional

  5         health; providing and effective date.

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  7  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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  9         Section 1.  Paragraph (m) of subsection (2) of section

10  233.061, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:

11         233.061  Required instruction.--

12         (2)  Members of the instructional staff of the public

13  schools, subject to the rules and regulations of the

14  commissioner, the state board, and the school board, shall

15  teach efficiently and faithfully, using the books and

16  materials required, following the prescribed courses of study,

17  and employing approved methods of instruction, the following:

18         (m)  Comprehensive health education that addresses

19  concepts of community health; consumer health; environmental

20  health; family life, including an awareness of the benefits of

21  sexual abstinence as the expected standard and the

22  consequences of teenage pregnancy; mental and emotional

23  health; injury prevention and safety; nutrition; personal

24  health; prevention and control of disease; and substance use

25  and abuse. Instruction in kindergarten through grade 12

26  regarding mental and emotional health must be age-appropriate

27  and must address depression, manic depression (bi-polar

28  disorder), schizophrenia, and anxiety disorders, including

29  obsessive-compulsive disorder, and must characterize such

30  mental illnesses as common, inherited, and treatable by

31  including information regarding their frequency in the

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida House of Representatives - 2000                 HB 675

    209-228A-00






  1  population, common ages of onset, common recognizable

  2  symptoms, and the effectiveness of and the need for proper

  3  medical treatment. Instruction regarding mental and emotional

  4  health must also address the correlation between mental

  5  illness and addiction and substance abuse due to

  6  "self-medication"; the prevention of suicide, aggressive

  7  behavior, criminal activities, and underachievement through

  8  prompt and faithful medical treatment; and the progressive

  9  deterioration of the brain, the increase in the severity of

10  symptoms and accompanying problematic behaviors, without

11  proper medical treatment. Positive examples of highly

12  successful people with such mental illness shall be presented

13  to remove stereotypes, stigma, and discrimination.

14         Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2000.

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17                          HOUSE SUMMARY

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      Specifies content of required instruction in mental and
19    emotional health.

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