Following Ohio law, the Ohio Department of Education, in collaboration with the Ohio Department of Public Safety, is developing a draft model curriculum for instruction in grades 9-12 on proper interactions with peace officers. Peace officers are broadly defined to include many types of law enforcement officers.

Advisory and working groups consisting of teachers, school administrators, law enforcement, driver education staff, legal rights groups and community members are developing the draft of this model curriculum in collaboration with the Ohio Department of Education and the Ohio Department of Public Safety.  During Spring and Summer 2023, the Working Group worked with the Department and the Ohio Department of Public Safety to revise the model curriculum based on a second round of public comments. The Department is working to finalize the draft with internal communications and legal reviews. Our team is also working to determine the updated adoption process under the Department of Education and Workforce. Once that process is determined, the Department will share further details on our website and through the EdConnection and Social Studies Signal Newsletters. 
 
Under Ohio law, each city, local, exempted village and joint vocational school districts and community schools shall provide instruction on proper interactions with peace officers during traffic stops and other in-person encounters using this model curriculum.  Ohio law requires districts to use the adopted model curriculum to plan instruction.  Districts are not expected to move forward with instruction until after a model curriculum has been adopted.
 
Each district shall include this instruction in one or more courses offered for graduation purposes to students in grades 9 through 12. Districts and schools determine locally which graduation courses include this instruction and the instructional time needed to provide the instruction established in this model curriculum.  

The model curriculum provides instruction on proper interactions with peace officers during traffic stops and other in-person encounters. Ohio law identifies four content requirements for this model curriculum:  

• Information on which individuals are peace officers and their duties and responsibilities  
• Questioning and detention laws, including any that require proof of identity and consequences for failure to comply with the laws  
• A person’s rights during an interaction with a peace officer 
• Proper interactions for interacting with peace officers  

Ohio law also requires demonstrations and role-playing activities in classroom settings to give students a better understanding of how interactions between officers and individuals can and should unfold. 
 

Webpages below will be updated as the model curriculum is further developed.