18              
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.C.R. NO.            
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                     HOUSE  CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION

  URGING THE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO CONSIDER REQUIRING MANDATORY
    FAMILY AND PARENTING CLASSES FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS.
 


 1        WHEREAS, the Department of Education currently offers a
 2   number of elective courses in Family and Consumer Science for
 3   public high school students; and
 4   
 5        WHEREAS, these courses cover a wide range of critical
 6   family living issues including home management; decision-making
 7   skills; the privileges and responsibilities of independent
 8   living, marriage, and parenthood; child development and
 9   effective parenting skills; and stress and coping factors; and
10   
11        WHEREAS, in the 1997-1998 school year, only 3.22 percent
12   of public school students in grades nine through twelve took
13   advantage of these courses; and
14   
15        WHEREAS, of the 1,747 students enrolled in these courses,
16   only twenty percent were males; and
17   
18        WHEREAS, in the same academic year, approximately 1,300
19   students were either pregnant or parenting teens; and
20   
21        WHEREAS, despite the availability of these elective
22   courses that would help to prepare students for family life in
23   the 21st century, many adolescents still lack basic personal
24   and life skills; and
25   
26        WHEREAS, to provide a healthier future for today's
27   adolescents, and for the children they will raise, the State
28   should encourage the development of these vital interpersonal
29   coping skills and the prevention of such negative influences as
30   teen pregnancy, the inability to handle anger and stress,
31   physical and mental abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, and
32   drug and alcohol abuse; now, therefore,
33   
34        BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
35   Twentieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session

 
Page 2                                   18                
                                  H.C.R. NO.            
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1   of 1999, the Senate concurring, that the Board of Education is
 2   urged to consider requiring mandatory family and parenting
 3   classes for high school students; and
 4   
 5        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board of Education is
 6   requested to report findings and recommendations to the
 7   Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of
 8   the Regular Session of 2000; and
 9   
10        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
11   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the
12   Board of Education and the Superintendent of Education.
13 
14 
15 
16                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________