Petition urges state board to let alone sex ed policy

Topeka ? When it comes to sex education, parents and educators are saying, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

A petition is circulating in Lawrence and other cities that urges the State Board of Education to back off any changes to the way sex education is presented to Kansas public school students.

Health standards, which include sex education, are before the state board for possible consideration in September.

During a preliminary presentation in June, conservatives who hold a majority on the board, indicated they want to recommend that school districts require parents to “opt-in” or give their permission for their child to take a sex education class.

Currently, parents have the opportunity to “opt-out” their children from sex education.

The proposed change is significant, advocates of sex education say.

Making parents opt-in will mean a lot of children who need sex education won’t get it because their parents are uninvolved with their lives.

“These teens who may not be able to get their forms signed are those who may need this information,” Sarah London, public policy manager for Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, said.

Many parents and educators agree.

Holli Joyce, the mother of a sixth-grade son at Quail Run Elementary and eighth-grade son at Central Junior High, said sex education provided at school has been a good experience.

“It provides families with the ability to discuss their beliefs at home and to talk about sexuality at home. It gives the children an opportunity to think of questions,” Joyce said.

Requiring students to get their parents’ permission to take the class would be problematic, she said.

“You wouldn’t reach all the parents,” she said. “The kids that need this type of education are the ones whose parents would have a difficult time getting the slip back.”

Southwest Junior High Principal Trish Bransky said the current policy has worked well.

If a parent doesn’t want their child to participate in a certain section of sex education, the school makes accommodations for that student, she said.

“It’s rare that people exercise that option,” Bransky said.

The opt-in policy would mean “a lot more paperwork for a lot more people,” she said.

Forrest Swall, a former legislator from Lawrence, was helping circulate the petition.

He said changing the policy would “further diminish the importance of good education in regard to sexuality and reproductive health.”

Petitions have been available at the Farmer’s Market in Lawrence and elsewhere across the state, such as Wichita, Hays and towns in Johnson county. The petition also can be accessed on Planned Parenthood’s Web site.

London, with Planned Parenthood, said approximately 600 people have signed the petitions so far. She said the organization hasn’t decided yet what to do with the petitions, but that it hopes to persuade the State Board to abandon efforts to recommend an opt-in policy.