Summertime: School Is Out and Sex Ed Is In

Scappoose County, Oregon: The Scappoose School District is asking parents to schedule their summer vacations around their review of several sex education curricula. The curricula is scheduled to be voted on today, Thursday, July 11, 2013. Using HIV statistics from 2001, parents need to support curriculum changes in Scappoose. By voting at the school board meeting, parents essentially get to determine which lessons are taught, ultimately limiting the breadth and scope of materials teachers can use in their classes. The curriculum proposed includes sex positive material including sexual response, pleasure, and gender expression.  Regardless of the outcome, parents in Scappoose County could enhance their knowledge by reading The Sex-Wise Parent, and teachers and supplement their lessons with Sex Ed 101 

Raleigh, North Carolina:  After passing the House and Senate, Senate Bill 132 is on its way to Governor Pat McCrory (R)'s desk where he is expected to sign into law more restrictions on abortion, couched in sex education curriculum “enhancements.”  Starting in 7^th grade, sex education curricula, upon signing this bill, will include various abortion myths presented as facts, including how abortions lead to risks of preterm births, infertility, and alcohol and drug use. Sounds like McCrory could use his own copy of Educating about Abortion.

And in Mississippi: Governor Phil Bryant leads the charge for mandatory Sex Education in his state which touts the country’s second highest teen pregnancy and birth rates. Don’t get too excited though, because this 2012 law mandating the provision of sex ed, allows individual school districts to decide what to teach, many of them choosing abstinence-only curricula. These curricula are chock full of limited, misleading, and shaming information, and support parents’ ability to opt their children out of sex education altogether. Sign the petition to encourage the Governor to promote comprehensive sex education to truly reduce the number of unintended pregnancy in his state.  If he thinks abstinence is still the way to go, he should purchase Making Sense of Abstinence to enhance the “abstinence-plus” model some are supporting.

All teachers in these states and beyond can benefit their students by attending The Sex Ed Conference to learn new ways to integrate fact-based sexual health education into their classrooms.

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