Suit Planned Over
Sex-Ed Program in Montgomery
By Lori Aratani.
washingtonpost.com from the Web, May 6, 2005
Washington, May 3 -- Two
groups angered that Montgomery County public schools' new health curriculum
includes a video demonstration on how to put on a condom and discussions about
homosexuality say they expect to file a lawsuit in U.S. District Court today to
block the lessons from being taught in Maryland's largest public school system.
John Garza, vice president of Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, said
his group -- along with Virginia-based Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and
Gays -- is seeking a temporary injunction to block teaching of the new
program, which is being piloted in six Montgomery County schools this month and
will be expanded to all schools next year.
"We tried to put off this as long as possible," said Steve Fisher, spokesman for
Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum. "We were so hoping that our own
school system would talk to us about our valid concerns. They should have
sat down with us instead of ignoring us, but apparently the Board of Education
is going to move forward."
In November, the Montgomery County school board approved a health curriculum
that incorporated changes in the eighth and 10th grades. Health lessons
were redesigned to allow teachers to discuss homosexuality with eighth-grade
students. Before the change, teachers could respond to questions but
not initiate a conversation about the topic. Changes at the 10th-grade
level included the addition of a seven-minute video that discusses abstinence
and condoms and includes a segment during which a woman uses a cucumber to
demonstrate how to put on a condom.
The lessons are part of a semester-long health education program that also
includes instruction on peer pressure and safety and injury prevention.
Parents must sign permission forms for their children to take part in these
particular segments, and they can sit in on the lessons if space is available.
Families also can opt out and choose an alternative, including an
abstinence-only program.
But both groups contend that the opt-out provision discriminates against these
children because it forcibly segregates them. They also maintain that
the system's program is discriminatory because it does not allow ex-gays to
present their viewpoints.
The dispute in Montgomery County mirrors debates that are taking place in
communities across the country over what public school students should be taught
when it comes to sex. Some school systems teach abstinence-only programs,
while others have embraced a so-called "comprehensive approach" that includes
instruction regarding contraception.
Fisher said his group was formed in December to protest what it believes are
inappropriate and unbalanced additions to the curriculum. He said the new
program fails to stress abstinence, and he said discussions about homosexuality
at the eighth-grade level are one-sided.
Montgomery County educators said the curriculum changes were necessary to help
students protect themselves from the dangers of unprotected sexual activity.
Montgomery County's program is being taught this month at three high schools --
Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Springbrook and Seneca Valley -- and three middle schools
-- Tilden, Martin Luther King and White Oak. Parent information nights at
Tilden and Martin Luther King on the new approach are scheduled for May 11.
Turnout has been low at other schools that have held informational meetings,
said system spokesman Brian Edwards. At White Oak, about 20 people
attended the meeting; eight were parents. About eight parents -- three of
whom had students at the school -- attended Bethesda-Chevy Chase's information
night last week.
"In general, parents have been supportive of the curriculum," Edwards said.
Fisher said he is not certain why so few parents are attending the information
nights.
System officials said it was too early to determine how many parents have opted
out of the new curriculum because, in some cases, permission slips have not yet
been distributed.
(Emphasis Added.)
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