Our hope is that education will prevent Lyme disease in those who are well and promote empathy, understanding, and compassion for those struggling to overcome their illness.

If you would like to incorporate the curriculum into your school, consider taking these steps:

• Familiarize yourself with the curriculum material.
• Develop a working relationship with your school principal and/or district administrator.
• Together with the administrator, approach your district’s curriculum team to advocate use of the curriculum in your district.
• Meet with the Board of Education and high-level district administrators, as necessary.
• Determine where the curriculum fits (the most likely placement is in the Health and Safety Curriculum, where other health issues including infectious diseases, such as AIDS are addressed).
• Advocate for the curriculum where decisions are being made. In our case, it was discussed in the context of the Health and Safety Curriculum.
• In advance of the curriculum meeting, submit the grade-level objectives clearly stated in the Lyme Disease Curriculum Program. These objectives are concise and age appropriate for grades K, 3, 6, and 9. The allotted timeframe for teaching a Health and Safety topic varies in schools, but is usually no longer than 30 minutes.
• Be prepared to discuss the value of the objectives and submit the curriculum for review. Consider bringing some disease incidence statistics (for your community) to indicate infection risk and prevention and awareness need.
• Upon approval of the objectives in the Health and Safety Curriculum, offer to meet with each grade-level curriculum representative to ensure appropriate program implementation.

Reminders: Always keep your initial contacts informed of your progress and ask them to internally advocate for the program. Remember your teachers and school administrators can and should be your children’s best allies. If you don’t succeed with one, try again or try another one.

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