SECOND REGULAR SESSION
96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES SPRENG (Sponsor), ZERR, HUBBARD, WYATT, HAEFNER, CASEY, HUMMEL, HUGHES, BROWN (50), NICHOLS, COLONA ,TORPEY, McNARY, CONWAY (14), CIERPIOT, SCHNEIDER, SCHAD AND WALTON GRAY (Co-sponsors).
5340L.01I D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To amend chapter 170, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to domestic violence education in elementary and secondary schools.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 170, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 170.265, to read as follows:
170.265. 1. Each school district or charter school may establish and implement an age-appropriate curriculum to educate students about domestic violence. Such a curriculum may include components to:
(1) Raise awareness of the incidence of domestic violence;
(2) Promote healthy behaviors in relationships;
(3) Allow students to identify the signs that an individual may be a victim of domestic violence;
(4) Allow students to identify the behaviors associated with an abuser or perpetrator of domestic violence;
(5) An emphasis on the primary prevention of violence perpetration.
2. A school district or charter school may include information about the identification of risk factors for perpetration of domestic violence, including but not limited to:
(1) History of violence or aggression in the past;
(2) Seeing or being a victim of violence as a child;
(3) Substance abuse, including but not limited to alcohol or drugs;
(4) Being unemployed or experiencing other life events that cause stress.
3. A curriculum may also contain information about types of behavior that may occur in conjunction with the incidence of domestic violence: physical violence, sexual violence, threats, emotional abuse, verbal abuse, and financial abuse. A curriculum may advise students about the physical injury, mental health consequences, suicide attempts, substance abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, and other health consequences that a victim of domestic violence may experience.
4. A curriculum may include information about how victims of domestic violence may seek assistance, or how friends or family of victims may provide assistance to them.
5. A curriculum may communicate information as to how domestic violence affects society as a whole because of increased medical care costs, an increased need for mental health services, and lost productivity for employers.
6. To develop a curriculum, a school district or charter school may cooperate or collaborate with federal agencies, state and local health departments, nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, international agencies, private industry, or other entities that have expertise in collecting data about domestic violence, learning about risk factors, developing strategies for prevention, or developing effective prevention approaches.
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