Sex-ed changes get unanimous approval
Curriculum still omits criticism of condoms and homosexuality, opponents say, but supporters praise revisions
Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2007
With a unanimous vote Tuesday, the Montgomery County school board approved a revised sex education curriculum, which includes a controversial 7-minute video on condom usage and lessons on sexual orientation.
The curriculum will be piloted this spring in three yet-to-be-determined middle and high schools. The school system will allow parents to preview the materials, and parents must sign a permission form allowing their children to participate in the lessons.
Some advocates have praised the changes, but others say the revised video and lesson plans are still a little too raunchy for middle and high school students.
Ruth M. Jacobs, an infectious disease physician in Rockville and a member of Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, suggested that the curriculum was more about board politics, and less about students. ‘‘It is wrong to use the lives of our children as political footballs,” she said, using a football and American flag to illustrate her point during Tuesday’s board meeting in Rockville.
Jacobs was part of a 15-member advisory panel that has discussed the curriculum revisions since December 2005, when the school system acceded to a federal judge’s ruling that the curriculum was flawed.
The curriculum adopted Tuesday includes 69 of the panel’s 83 recommendations, which include adding a woman’s voice to the video and information on how to properly store, open and discard condoms.
In addition to the video (intended for 10th-graders), the revisions include two 45-minute lessons on sexual orientation for eighth- and 10th-graders. The curriculum still does not reference people who say they are ex-homosexuals.
Last week, Jacobs said she was ‘‘terribly disappointed” that the lesson plans did not mention ex-gays.
Peter Sprigg, a member of the advisory panel representing Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays, which sued the school system in 2005, called the omission ‘‘discrimination, pure and simple.”
Michelle Turner, CRC president, called the revised curriculum ‘‘flawed.” The video, she said, still exposes teenagers to other forms of sex and does not include enough information on how to properly use a condom.
‘‘This feels like deja vu,” Turner said. ‘‘Once again, we are looking at a curriculum that seeks to introduce young children to acts and lifestyles that are proven medically to be hazardous to one’s health, both physically and emotionally.”
Turner also took issue with a late staff addition to the eighth-grade discussion of human sexuality. The addition instructs teachers to tell students ‘‘sexual orientation is innate and a complex part of one’s personality.”
‘‘I’d like to know their medical data that proves homosexuality is innate,” Turner said. ‘‘I haven’t found a medical professional yet who says that.”
Turner said her group would take its time in deliberating its next step. ‘‘We’ll consult with our legal counsel and discuss what has transpired today and make a decision,” she said. ‘‘... The spring pilot gives us a few months to weigh our options.”
Board member Patricia B. O’Neill (Dist. 3) of Bethesda had a message for groups threatening lawsuits. ‘‘See you in court,” she said, ‘‘because I believe this is a thorough, thoughtful, medically appropriate, age-appropriate curriculum, and I am very proud of it.”
Administrators will approach principals who are comfortable having their schools pilot the new curriculum this spring, said Deputy Superintendent Frieda K. Lacey.
In 2004 the board approved and piloted a video on condom use. CRC and PFOX filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt to stop a discussion of homosexuality that was to be piloted in spring 2005. The discussions never took place after the federal judge placed a restraining order on the lesson, citing a teachers guide that he said unfairly singled out a religious denomination for its view on homosexuality.TeachTheFacts.org formed a rival parents group to show support for the curriculum.
James Kennedy, president of TeachTheFacts.org and a member of the advisory panel, liked the revisions and said the school system did a good job of improving the curriculum. He wanted certain materials included in the new lesson plans, including information ‘‘that being gay is not a disease and it is not a choice,” Kennedy said.
‘‘I hope that the board agrees it is important to make a very clear statement that this is not personal opinion and it is not advocacy, the content of these classes has the support of every mainstream medical and mental health professional organization,” Kennedy said.
In May 2005, a federal judge ruled that teacher resource materials, which were not to be presented to students, were objectionable because they unfairly singled out specific religious denominations for their condemnation of homosexuality.
A line in one of the new assignments for eighth-graders echoes that finding: ‘‘Just as stereotyping others based on sexuality is not an acceptable behavior, stereotyping others based on personal beliefs also is not acceptable.”
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