Mineral Wells school administrators take over health/sex education program used by neighbors | Mineral Wells

MINERAL WELLS – School superintendents here have joined with nine county districts to adopt a health and sex education program that addresses social media, relationships, sexually transmitted diseases and other issues facing teens.

“We waited a year before deciding to use it,” Angela Myrick, deputy director of the student union, told the board on Monday. “Because we wanted to see how parents in other districts would respond to it.”

“Pure Truth” is a two-week course led by certified volunteer instructors, the website says.

Myrick said that teachers would be alongside lecturers and that male and female students would take the course in separate rooms.

Students will have the opportunity to ask questions during presentations, but Myrick said both teachers and instructors will instruct students to discuss “more complicated” topics with their parents.

The course is free for schools and is offered by Grace House Ministries, a nonprofit faith-based organization with offices in Weatherford and Mineral Wells.

“They’re going to take out the part that’s more church-based,” Myrick said of Pure Truth’s curriculum. “Parents have the option to opt out of it.”

Myrick said the course for grades 7 through 12 covers basic topics such as anatomy, puberty and reproduction.

It emphasizes sexual abstinence and contains information on contraception and the prevention/screening and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.

The course describes healthy relationships and how to recognize, resist and set boundaries in abusive relationships.

“Pure Truth” replaces the “Worth the Wait” abstinence-only curriculum the district has previously used.

“Our principals are fully on board,” Myrick said.

Weatherford, Aledo, Brock, Graford, Millsap, Peaster, Poolville, Springtown ISDs and Trinity Christian Academy have participated in the Pure Truth program, according to additional information provided by Myrick.

Myrick also informed the trustees of a list of courses that are considered innovative because they go beyond the minimum competency courses required by the state.

All are state-recognized and are offered as elective subjects.

Courses have included agricultural leadership, beekeeping, pipeline construction, technical drawing for architecture and, since last school year, paramedic basics. A sports medicine course will be added in the fall, Myrick said.

The board on Monday also expanded the district’s Student Resource Officer program, which sends Mineral Wells police officers to campus.

Superintendent David Tarver said a new memorandum of understanding with Police Chief Tim Denison will increase the number of officers in the program from three full-time and two part-time officers to five full-time officers.

This is one for each Ram campus.

“I think it’s wonderful that we can have full-time officers on every campus,” Tarver said.

As part of the program, which also fulfills a new legal mandate, the district provides offices and pays the city salaries and benefits for the police.

This amount is $519,144 under the new agreement.

In addition to the campus police officers, the city provides uniforms and vehicles and pays for overtime. Student Resource Officers are also called when the city needs them and the city pays for them overtime.

Finally, on Monday, the trustees approved a new class ranking system. Myrick introduced it by saying that it would apply to the new freshmen, while older students would continue to follow the system they have been studying under up to now.

According to the policy recommended by the Texas Association of School Boards, grades from courses taken a second time are not considered when calculating class ranks.

This means that the first note still counts.

The summer school grades are not taken into account in the ranking.

Rankings for graduation awards are calculated for all graduates, regardless of the year in which they began their studies at the high school level.

The awards of Valedictorian and Salutatorian are given only to students who have been enrolled at Mineral Wells High School for four semesters and have completed “exactly eight semesters.”

In the event of a tie between Val and Sal candidates whose grade point averages are equal to the fourth decimal place, both the number of advanced courses and the number of college dual credit courses each of them has taken will be the deciding factor.