Updated 08/10/2011 06:50 PM
Sex Ed Becomes Mandatory For City Middle, High School Students
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New York City schools will make sex education mandatory for students.
Will mandatory sex education classes prevent students from engaging in risky behavior? How involved should the school system be in educating children about sex? Join the conversation on NY1's "The Call" at 9 p.m. with guest host Maria Milito at 9 p.m. or email your thoughts.
In an email to principals, Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott says beginning in the second semester of the upcoming school year, middle school and high school students will have to have at least one semester each of sex education as part of their health curriculum.
Principals will have leeway on how and when the subject will be taught.
Walcott says parents will have a chance to opt out of any part of the course they are uncomfortable with, as they do with the city's HIV-AIDS curriculum.
This is part of a citywide initiative aimed at improving the lives of young black and Latino men.
According to the city Health Department, 57 percent of all new HIV diagnoses in 2009 were among black and Hispanic men.