Boston Herald - EducationNews.org
HELENA Mont. A proposed sex education program that teaches fifth-graders the different ways people have intercourse and first-graders about gay love has infuriated parents and forced the school board to take a closer look at the issue.
Helena school trustees were swamped Tuesday night at a hearing that left many of the hundreds of parents in attendance standing outside a packed board room. They urged the school board in this city nestled in the Rocky Mountains to take the sex education program back to the drawing board.
The proposed 62-page document covers a broad health and nutrition education program and took two years to draft. But it is the small portion dealing with sexual education that has drawn the ire of many in the community who feel it is being pushed forward despite its obvious controversial nature.
Parents appeared most worried about pieces of the plan that teaches first-graders about same-gender relationships fifth-graders that sexual intercourse includes vaginal oral or anal penetration and high school students about erotic art. The curriculum would also teach kindergartners anatomical terms such as penis vagina breast nipples testicles scrotum and uterus.
They made this more controversial by adding in all this stuff like same-gender relationships to small children teaching body parts to kindergartners and teaching erotic art to ninth through 12th-graders Mikal Wilkerson who has five children in the school system and a husband who sits on the school board said Wednesday in an interview. They even teach about anxiety about sexual performance in high school.
Supporters say the proposed health education curriculum contains honest science-based information on wellness and allows students to make better decisions. At Tuesdays meeting they urged the board to accept the policy.
This is about reality and truth so our kids dont grow up in La-La Land and have sufficient knowledge to make informed decisions Mary Ann Dunwell said in the Helena Independent Record.
The board takes the issue up again next month and the outrage suggests that members could alter the plan to deal with all the complaints. One resident said parents may have to consider impeachment of board members or a lawsuit if it goes forward.
