North Carolina: Sex-Ed Proponents Back Changes

A large turnout is expected for Monday's public hearing on proposed changes to Wake County's sex education curriculum. The curriculum proposed by Wake school administrators earlier this month would revise the abstinence-until-marriage curriculum in grades seven through nine. Administrators did not recommend expanding to comprehensive sex education in those grades, which would have allowed health teachers to discuss now-banned topics such as homosexuality and how to use condoms. But they did recommend teaching updated information about STDs and the effectiveness of contraceptives, as well as adding discussions on diversity and tolerance.

Administrators recommended that high schools develop electives for students in grades 10 through 12 who want to discuss comprehensive sex education. Additionally, administrators want to lift a ban on school employees' being able to tell students where they can obtain contraceptives.

School officials declined to comment on their recommendations. "We made our case at last week's meeting," said Michael Evans, a Wake school system spokesperson. "We are waiting for the public and school board to speak."

Kate Howard Franch of the Wake County Health Education Task Force, which lobbied for a comprehensive sex education curriculum, expressed guarded support for the compromise version administrators have advanced. But Sarah Harden, chair of Citizens for Excellence in Education, the lead group lobbying to keep the current abstinence-until-marriage curriculum, complained that the changes would water down the abstinence message. Harden said the changes would also downplay the problems with condoms. The curriculum now talks about condoms having an effective pregnancy prevention rate of 79 percent to 86 percent, and the revised curriculum talks about a lowest expected rate of pregnancy of 3 percent.

Administrators have said they expect to refer most students to Wake County Human Services or their primary care physician. Human Services provides free condoms and birth control pills. Abstinence-only supporters said that allowing school employees to refer students to where they can get contraceptives without having to ask for their parents' permission was an attempt to cut parents out of the loop. Franch said school employees need the discretion because not all students can talk to their parents.

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