Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) Comprehensive Health Education Mandates

The School District of Indian River County is committed to inspiring and empowering all students to maximize their full potential. This mission aligns with the State Board of Education Rule Memo that requires the provision of required instruction related to mental and emotional health education to every student in grades K-12 annually. Content areas include mental and emotional health, substance use and prevention, internet safety, human trafficking, and character education.  Each domain supports emotional resiliency and academic success in a global community.

Students in grades K-12 will receive the required Character Education & Resiliency lessons through the Navigate 360 platform located in the students Class Link account.  Parents can also view the lessons through the student Class Link Account. 

To support students' resilience, Florida’s First Lady Casey DeSantis has launched the Build Resiliency website. Parents and caregivers can explore the characteristics of resilience with their children.

More information on the FLDOE health education related requirements related to the State Board of Education state statute rules can be found on the FLDOE and Comprehensive Education Mandates webpages.

Florida Youth Survey

The School District of Indian River County has been selected to participate in the Florida Youth Survey (FYS) conducted by the Florida Department of Education, Florida Department of Health, and Florida Department of Children and Families. The annual FYS data provides valuable insight into the current trends of youth engagement in health risk behaviors, and the results will provide essential information used to improve outcomes for students in our schools. The input from our students is essential to help the state agencies monitor current and emerging trends of risky behavior among youth across our state. There are two versions of the survey questionnaires, the Florida Youth Tobacco Survey (FYTS), which gathers information for evaluating Florida’s efforts to prevent and reduce tobacco use and the Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey (FYSAS), which gathers information on alcohol and other drug use, the risk and protective factors that affect substance abuse behaviors. Adverse childhood experience questions have also been included on the high school FYSAS only. A third version of the survey, the Florida-Specific Youth Survey (FSYS) is administered on odd years only at the high school level and seeks to collect information on students’ knowledge and behavior related to required instruction, including health education. Through a random selection process, those students selected to participate will be asked to complete only one questionnaire. Click on the appropriate tab below to view each survey. 

Purpose of the Florida Youth Survey

• Determine the prevalence of youth behaviors that are of interest to the state.

• Track trends in these behaviors across time.

• Collect data that is comparable to national, state and/or local data.

• Develop and evaluate policies and programs to control and eliminate risky behaviors among Florida's youth.

• Assess students' knowledge and behavior related to required instruction outlined in section 1003.42, Florida Statues, including health education.

For the 2024-2025 School Year, only Gifford Middle School was selected to participate. Parental notification and opt out forms were sent home with all students who will participate. Students only participated in either the Florida Youth Tobacco Survey or the Florida Your Substance Abuse Survey.

To see the 2024 2025 Florida Youth Survey Draft Questions follow the links below:

Florida Youth Tobacco Survey

Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey Middle School

Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey High School

Florida Specific Survey

For the 2023-2024 School Year, all secondary schools in SDIRC, including Charters, participated. To see the state wide results for the Florida Youth Survey from 2023-2024, please follow this link to the Florida Department of Education Wepage on the Florida-Specific Youth Survey.