Austin parents divided on sex ed changes

Parents of Austin school district students appear split on how soon elementary school students should learn about such issues as sexual orientation, pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, but strongly support teaching the youngest children refusal skills, including how to clearly say no or leave an uncomfortable situation.

In preliminary survey results, 91 percent of those respondents who indicated a preference for when students should be taught refusal skills said the lesson should be introduced in kindergarten through second grade.

Fewer than half of respondents said sexual orientation should be taught in grades three through five, 21 percent said it should be taught in grades four through five, and almost a third said it should be taught in fifth grade only.

The feedback will be used by district officials in revamping the sex education curriculum.

The survey, which closed last week, sought input from parents, campus advisory councils, teachers and high school students enrolled in health courses on proposed revisions to district sex education curriculum for elementary and middle schools.

The human sexuality and responsibility curriculum is being overhauled for the first time in more than a decade for grades three through eight, and it will be overhauled later for younger students. The Austin school board could vote on the revisions in late February.

The district received 5,863 survey responses, including 4,704 from parents and guardians — about 10 percent of the district's families — and 496 from teachers and staff members.

In addition to the survey answers, the respondents also submitted thousands of comments, and many did not choose any of the survey answers but instead gave all their input through the free-form comments, district officials said. District officials are still reviewing all those comments and won't release them until after redacting personal student information.

The proposed revised standards to the curriculum would include safety; identity; anatomy and physiology; puberty and adolescent development; pregnancy and reproduction; and sexually transmitted diseases.

Opposition

The survey asked when students should learn about different topics, dividing questions by grade levels: kindergarten through second grade; third through fifth; and sixth through eighth. The survey did not provide parents the option to choose no grade except by filling out the comment boxes.

The district is expected to release the complete survey results after adding a handful of remaining results from campus advisory committees and students yet to be included. It is unclear when the comments will be released.

"When we go through and compile the comments, there may be comments in there that say, 'We don't think any of this should be taught at all.' So that data will be combed up and provided as well later," said Kathy Ryan, district director of academics.

Members of the Student Health Advisory Council — which is made up of parents and community members that advise the district on health, physical education and sex ed — have asked the school district multiple times to update the curriculum and teach in earlier grades more information about consent, same-sex relationships, gender identity and protection from sexually transmitted diseases. Committee members and parents have said at school meetings that such changes are overdue and the district should provide sex education that is inclusive to the needs of LGBT students.  

However, other parents have said some of the information is inappropriate to be taught in schools and raised concerns that the district’s survey didn't give them the choice to say the topics shouldn’t be introduced at all or should be delayed until later grades.

This summer, several parents expressed concern that the district was adopting the new curriculum standards without input. They also complained that committee members have not been approved in several years by the school board, a state requirement, even as new ones had been added. They also said there was too little diversity of thought on the council, saying those with more conservative views who applied for the committee were not appointed. Such issues prompted at least two grievances against the school district. Since then, the district sought community input through the survey, and, in September, trustees approved the advisory council's roster.

'A safe place'

Matthew Shead, who with his husband is raising twin boys enrolled in a district pre-K program, said a lot has changed in the decade since the curriculum was last revamped, including marriage equality for same-sex couples. He said the curriculum should be changed to include consent, different types of families and gender identity. He also said teaching students the medical terms for the body provides children the ability to more accurately report sexual abuse.

“Schools should be a safe place for everybody — and not every home is a safe place for kids — and that every kid can be seen, loved and accepted no matter who they are or where they come from,” Shead said.

The topics that could be introduced as early as third grade include: describing reproductive anatomy and terminology; describing the process of human reproduction; defining HIV and methods of transmission and prevention; defining sexual harassment; defining sexual orientation as the romantic attraction of an individual to someone of the same gender or a different gender; and identifying parents or other trusted adults of whom students can ask questions about sexual orientation.

As early as sixth grade, topics could include: differentiating between gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation; explaining the range of gender roles; analyzing external influences that have an impact on one’s attitudes about gender, sexual orientation and gender identity; explaining the benefits, risks and effectiveness of various methods of contraception, including abstinence and condoms; describing the steps to using a condom correctly; and describing situations and behaviors that constitute sexual harassment and assault.

Lessons for kindergarten through second grade aren’t scheduled to be revised for a couple of years, but the survey does allow input on lesson topics that later could be introduced. Such topics could include teaching proper words for body parts, including penis and vulva; learning that all people, including children, have the right to tell others not to touch their body when they do not want to be touched; and demonstrating how to clearly say no, how to leave an uncomfortable situation, and how to identify and talk with a trusted adult if someone is touching them in a way that makes them uncomfortable.