North Carolina: Wake County School Board Votes to Expand Sex Education

In a 5-4 vote, Wake County's school board agreed Tuesday to update and expand the sex education curriculum beyond the abstinence message that has been state-mandated since 1995. Students in grades seven through nine will be given lessons about contraceptives, STDs, tolerance for gays and lesbians, the effects of teen pregnancy and building healthy relationships. Sexual abstinence until marriage will remain the primary focus, but some board members complained that the changes went further than parents wanted.

Much of the board's focus was on the revised abstinence-until-marriage curriculum, which may be taught as soon as next spring. The debate centered on the inclusion of diversity and tolerance lessons. "The inclusion of tolerance is a thinly veiled attempt to equate the homosexual lifestyle with the heterosexual lifestyle," said board member Bill Fletcher. Board member Jeff York said he supported the changes because he stood by the judgment of school administrators who had recommended them, adding that the tolerance lesson would be discussed in one class period a year. Administrators said the lessons were added because of complaints students raised about being bullied and harassed.

Fletcher also complained that the curriculum veered too far from stressing abstinence by focusing more on the effectiveness of contraceptives. In addition, he objected, focusing on abstinence from sexual intercourse, rather than sexual activity, excludes oral sex.

Supporters of the existing curriculum also failed 5-4 to block new health elective courses in grades 10 to 12 whose topics may include what makes for healthy relationships, resources for dealing with unhealthy relationships, gender issues, sexual harassment, prevention of STDs and unintended pregnancies. The new electives are expected to begin in the 2003-04 school year.

Administrators said Tuesday that they are abandoning a proposed policy to permit school employees to give students information about where they can obtain condoms. The new curriculum will increase time spent on sex education in grades seven through nine from four class periods a year up to 12 periods. Parents retain the right to keep their children out of sex education classes.

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