Ever since a revised health enhancement curriculum was introduced to the public a month ago, controversy has surrounded the human sexuality portion and evoked strong reactions from both supporters and opponents alike.
Helena School District administrators and the document’s creators defend the comprehensive health education document, saying as a whole it will foster a healthier lifestyle for all students as they mature from early childhood into young adults. Opponents say the proposals on human sexuality give too graphic information to children at too young an age.
A committee made up of administrators, teachers, nurses and health and police department officials met for two years considering best practices, as well as state and national standards while they developed the 62-page document that encompasses nutrition, relationships, mental health, environmental health and disease prevention.
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But the stirring debate in the community has centered on a few pages about human sexuality.
Some of the sticking points are introduction of body parts by their correct names in kindergarten; understanding in first grade that human beings can love people of the same gender; and understanding in fifth grade that sexual intercourse includes, but is not limited to vaginal, oral or anal penetration.
Much of those points being taught at those specific ages coincide with the Guideline for Comprehensive Sexuality Education put out by the National Guidelines Task Force, as well as other national health education standards. The district’s proposal is somewhat conservative on a few points compared to those national guidelines that, for example, say in early elementary school (ages 5 through 8), students should learn that men and women have sperm and egg cells that enable them to reproduce and that vaginal intercourse is when a penis is placed inside the vagina — the most common way for a sperm and egg to join.
Superintendent Bruce Messinger said the committee looked at what was appropriate, necessary and acceptable to the Helena community before crafting language into the existing draft curriculum. Phone messages to other members of the drafting committee were not immediately returned.
“At some point, you have to roll it out,” Messinger said. “There isn’t a perfect place to land.”
Messinger said the committee believed that introducing body parts using correct medical terminology is necessary, particularly by the time they learn about human reproduction, which currently happens in the fifth grade.
How exactly those terms would be delivered, as with the subjects throughout the entire document, has yet to be determined.
“What we’ll do next is come up with an implementation plan to identify tools and professional development,” Messinger said. “It’s hard for us today to exactly know when it is introduced but generally in those early years.”
Messinger said he doesn’t see a chart or posters being put in a kindergarten classroom for a class lesson on anatomy, but rather, nurses using accurate terms when a student seeks their care, for example.
“We aren’t trying to take away lessons from home, but more a springboard for further home or church discussions,” he said.
Messinger said a large influence on these topics came from the school nurses and educators who say these questions, like homosexuality, come up often from students.
“If these were things that were never on their minds, it wouldn’t have come up,” he said. “It is about helping students have the information. We want them to have accurate information in a safe environment.”
Messinger said educators will not promote, condemn or place value on topics such as homosexuality, but merely say it exists.
“As they encounter the world around them, they better understand that’s what it is,” he said.
The proposal says by fifth grade students should understand that sex isn’t limited to vaginal, and Messinger says students need to be aware that the risk of sexually transmitted diseases is high with other forms of sex.
“If students are involved in other forms of sex, they need to understand all sex with exchange of body fluids puts them at risk for contracting infections or spreading infections,” Messinger said, adding that students need to understand that while engaging in other forms of sex may prevent pregnancy, it won’t prevent disease.
Some say comprehensive sex education helps to lower teen pregnancy rates and decrease sexually transmitted diseases, while others say it doesn’t.
According to the most recent statistics available through the state Department of Public Health and Human Services, there are 68,108 teens between the ages of 15 and 19 in Montana. In 2008, 1,680 — or slightly more than 2.4 percent — reported being pregnant, and 186 of those reported being married. In Lewis and Clark County that same year, there were 95 births by teenagers.
Last year in Montana, 1,008 teens reported having chlamydia (the most commonly reported STD). Fifty-eight cases were reported in this county, while 2,993 total cases were reported statewide. That’s lower than in 2008 when 105 teens were reported in Lewis and County and 1,106 teens in the state out of a total of 3,109 statewide.
In 2008, 359 Montana teens between 15 and 19 reportedly had an abortion, and last year, 48 percent of Montana high school students reported having sex.
According to the 2009 Kids Count Data Book published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the teen birth rate in Montana has increased since 2006, while the national average has decreased.
Mike Henderson, public health nurse with the Lewis and Clark County Health Department, says from a public health standpoint, accurate information helps people make decisions affecting their health.
He said abstinence-based-education is a critical component of sex education because it promotes healthy behaviors and does reduce the risk of communicable disease. However, abstinence-only programs have not produced any evidence that they increase abstinence or reduce teen pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases.
Henderson says a study conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that comprehensive sex education that teaches abstinence and contraception is most effective for young people.
“Youth who receive this education are not more likely to initiate sex earlier in life, and are more likely use protection correctly and consistently when they do become sexually active,” he said.
Henderson said he won’t make a recommendation about age-appropriateness for two reasons: first, every child develops at individual rates; and second, his experience is limited to health experience, and not school curriculums.
“We wouldn’t venture to say an age at where it’s appropriate — that’s not our realm,” he said.
Administrators are expecting many community members to address the board on the draft document at the meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Front Street Learning Center, where public testimony will be taken for the first time on the draft curriculum. Some will voice support of the school’s proposed methodology, while others will share their concerns.
Theresa Frei, a mother-to-be, has been working for the past month with a group called Helena Youth Advocates trying to stop the proposal from being approved by the board of trustees.
“We are hoping (trustees) see the need for a lot more dialogue,” Frei said. “The curriculum should reflect the values of the community and we don’t feel this does.”
Carissa Spurzem, a mother of two daughters, disagrees.
“The strongest thing I feel is any type of education is power — by educating our kids we give them a chance to make difficult decisions,” Spurzem said. “We are enabling them to have more power with their peers because they know the information.”
She said the committee does represent the community at large, and plans to attend the public hearing to voice her support.
Messinger said not everyone will be happy with the outcome, whatever it will be.
“We understand it’s going to be hard to find lessons that everybody agrees on, so we’ll work to find what’s best for the children based on what we know about them and society,” he said. “If we find families are uncomfortable, we’ll honor those requests to do an alternative activity or no participation at all.
“It’s going to be hard to find a place to land that’s A-OK with everybody.”
Reporter Alana Listoe:
447-4081 or alana.listoe
@helenair.com
