Student Interactions with Peace Officers Model Curriculum

Student Interactions with Peace Officers Model Curriculum Public Comment

The Ohio Department of Education is seeking public comment on the current Student Interactions with Peace Officers Model Curriculum draft until 4 p.m. EST on April 24, 2023. The education community and public are invited to provide suggestions for improving the draft model curriculum through a public comment survey. The Department will review and consider all feedback for additional revisions of the model curriculum. 

Following Ohio law, the Ohio Department of Education, in collaboration with the Ohio Department of Public Safety, developed 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 developed the draft of this model curriculum in collaboration with the Ohio Department of Education and the Ohio Department of Public Safety. 

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. 

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. Each district shall include this instruction in one or more courses offered for graduation purposes to students in grades 9 through 12. The first group of students expected to receive this instruction will be students entering grade 9 for the first time on or after July 1, 2022. 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.  

 

Resources

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Student Interactions with Peace Officers Model Curriculum Contact Information

Justin Leach 
Social Studies Education Consultant
614-387-3200
justin.leach@education.ohio.gov

Linda McKean
Social Studies Education Consultant
614-387-0957
linda.mckean@education.ohio.gov

Last Modified: 4/5/2023 1:32:58 PM

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