ABOUT BACHE

Mission

Bay Area Communities for Health Education promotes the teaching of comprehensive medically accurate, age-appropriate, bias-free sex education in our public schools.

Vision

Parents, educators and students in Bay Area public schools will have the information they need to make informed decisions about sexuality education taught in their schools. Bay Area public schools will teach comprehensive, medically accurate, age-appropriate and bias-free health education that supports lifelong sexual and reproductive health for all students.

What We Do

BACHE works primarily with parents and caregivers-educating them about what California law requires for sex education, giving them the tools to discover what sex education is actually being taught in their children's schools, and supporting then in becoming advocates for legally required comprehensive sex education.

Our History

BACHE was founded by parents in 2003, after two Bay Area mothers discovered independently that their children’s schools were teaching them a biased, inaccurate, abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education curriculum that violated California law. The mothers wanted their children to know about abstinence, but they also wanted them to have other important sexual health information.

Above all, they wanted to make sure that the information their children were being taught in school was accurate and based in medical science. The mothers began working to improve sex education in their own districts and soon realized that their work would have more impact if they joined together and brought other parents, community members and allied organizations into the effort. BACHE’s vision is that parents, educators, and students in Bay Area public schools will have the information they need to make informed decisions about sexuality education taught in their schools.Bay Area public schools will teach comprehensive, medically accurate, age-appropriate and bias-free health education that supports lifelong sexual and reproductive health for all students.

BACHE's accomplishments include

Working with parent and community members has led to the removal of illegal abstinence only education and the implementation of comprehensive sex education in several Bay Area school districts, including Mount Diablo Unified, Oakland Unified and Fremont Unified School districts.
BACHE has become an important resource for school districts. In a 2005 letter, Mount Diablo Unified curriculum director wrote: "BACHE representatives have offered resources, examples from other districts, materials, and time to help the district implement (the law).. I want to thank you for your constructive input and I look forward to our continued positive joint efforts to provide (legally) compliant instruction for our students."

Fiscal Sponsor

Cardea Services
www.cardeaservices.org