The Lawrence school district will have national sexuality education standards in place for the entire district this school year.

“The national standards are more comprehensive,” than state standards, said Sarah Oatsvall, assistant director of teaching and learning for the district.

The goal of the curriculum is to provide students with a healthy self-image, promote good behaviors and help students make good decisions, Oatsvall said.

Last year, the school board adopted the more comprehensive standards over ones approved by the State Board of Education in 2006.

The national standards add more information about forms of birth control and material about sexual orientation. This year the standards should be implemented districtwide.

The district has an “opt-out” provision for people who don’t want their children to participate in the sex education curriculum.

Oatsvall said there were two or three students last year whose parents signed the opt-out provision, and that was only for a short portion of the curriculum.

She said those students were able to leave the class through a silent signal from the teacher so that none of the other students would know they were leaving. “No one knew the difference. Our teachers are good at handling that in a delicate way,” she said.

Vanessa Sanburn, vice president of the Lawrence school board, has been a strong advocate for the national sexuality standards in the district.

“These standards support curriculum that presents sexual development as a normal, natural, healthy part of human development,” she said.

The district also is partnering with groups in the community. For example, Sue McDaneld, who coordinates family planning and sexually transmitted disease programs at the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department, will be speaking to eighth-grade students about STDs and pregnancy prevention.

“This is a wonderful thing that the school district is doing,” McDaneld said. “I’m glad to see the school district addressing a broad range of health issues. It’s important to recognize this is a normal part of human life,” she said.