Sexual abuse prevention program resumes in Orange County schools after stoppage

An abuse prevention program is resuming in Orange County school systems after state officials agreed it didn't violate a new state law.

Safe Touch is intended to help young kids identify when they are victims of sexual assault and how to seek help from a trusted adult. It's offered by the Orange County Rape Crisis Center in Orange County Schools and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.

The school systems had paused the program in the fall after officials questioned whether it complied with Senate Bill 49, which Republican sponsors called the Parents' Bill of Rights. It restricts instruction about sexuality below the fifth grade.

Both school systems and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction have since decided the program can be offered, Rachel Valentine, the center's executive director, told WRAL News in an email.

In a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, State Superintendent Catherine Truitt said she reached out to both school systems Friday and that Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools had already resumed the program.

The state department is still working on final guidance for school systems on complying with Senate Bill 49. It must be implemented by January. Before then, the department will hold virtual sessions with school leaders on how the department believes they should proceed.

School leaders have asked many questions of the department about Senate Bill 49 since it became law earlier this fall and have received intermittent guidance from the department and their own attorneys since. Many school systems are translating the law nearly word-for-word into their own policy books, but they still must give school employees directions on what they need to do differently come January, leading to some confusion.

One of the bill's sponsors, Sen. Amy Galey, R-Alamance, told WRAL News last month that the bill was written specifically to allow programs like Safe Touch to continue, because they teach about safety and not sexuality.

The department doesn't control programs such as Safe Touch, department spokeswoman Blair Rhoades said. So it's unclear how every school system has handled similar programming.

The Wake County Public School System uses the Funny Tummy program and hasn't paused it, determining Senate Bill 49 didn't affect it.