Cambridge to Implement New Mandatory Health Class for High Schoolers

Cambridge students beginning with the class of 2028 will be required to take a new “Health II” class in order to graduate, the Cambridge School Committee voted Tuesday.

Though the district originally recommended instituting the required course for the class of 2027, committee members voted 6-1 to delay the requirement by one year over concerns that the district currently lacks the personnel to immediately make the change.

The two-semester course will debut next fall, but will be optional for current high school students.

The new health course was first proposed in a committee motion in February 2022, which cited Cambridge Rindge and Latin School students speaking out about “troubling levels of sexual harassment and assault.” The motion also referenced advocacy from students, educators, and committee members calling for increased health education on consent and anti-discrimination.

Jeanne Alailima, a CRLS junior and a student representative on the School Committee, said that she has never encountered a course that covers topics of overdose prevention, media literacy, or digital citizenship.

Alailima said it was important that the course be mandatory.

“The people who need it the most aren’t necessarily going to look for it,” Alailima said, “especially with the culture we’ve created at CRLS where people often overwhelm themselves with AP courses without the resources that they need.”

“It might not be something that people want, but it is something that I think is really needed,” she added.

But Imogene Wu, a freshman at CRLS, spoke against the motion at the meeting, noting that beginning in sixth grade, students take four years of “robust” and “well-taught” health courses.

“It doesn’t look like this class is covering any new material,” she said.

Vice Chair Caroline M. Hunter raised concerns that CRLS lacks sufficient personnel to offer the course for all interested students, much less students across the board.

“When you change graduation requirements, the ripple effect is longer than what we expect,” she said. “We need four years out before you change the graduation requirements. Otherwise, this problem could be phenomenal.”

CRLS Principal Damon Smith said that the school would need three full-time educators to teach the course to a full grade-level at once. According to Superintendent Victoria L. Greer, the district has currently budgeted for one full-time educator.

Committee member Richard Harding Jr. was the sole vote against the motion, stating that he needed to see the curriculum before making a decision.

“I’d just feel more comfortable passing it if I knew what was in it,” he said.

Harding said that further discussion would “lead to a better vantage point to vote up or down this particular change.”

However, with student course selection for the 2024-25 school year already under way, committee member Rachel B. Weinstein said that the School Committee needed to take action.

“We can’t really afford to wait,” Weinstein said.

—Staff writer Darcy G Lin can be reached at darcy.lin@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Emily T. Schwartz can be reached at emily.schwartz@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @EmilySchwartz37.