August 1, 2009, Marco Island News

NAPLES — A change to the Collier County School Board’s sex education policy could come as early as November.

That was the timetable set forth by Board Vice Chairwoman Kathleen Curatolo, who said she would like to see the School Board hold a workshop in the next two months to work on the verbiage. She said she hoped it would lead to a first reading of a proposed policy change in October with a final vote in November. Thursday evening, the School Board voted 3 to 2 to revise the board’s policy. Board Chairwoman Pat Carroll and board member Steve Donovan dissented.

Carroll said Friday afternoon she hoped to follow Curatolo’s timetable.

“We have so many things going on in August and September. It is going to be hard to work in a workshop,” she said. “But the intent is to try to get something for the October meeting.”

Sex education curriculum has been a hot topic around the state in 2009.

In April, the Volusia County School Board changed its curriculum from abstinence-only education to a curriculum that stresses abstinence while teaching students about birth control.

In the Legislature, Sen. Ted Deutch, D-Delray Beach, proposed a law that would require schools to teach students about condoms and other contraceptive methods starting in the sixth grade. Two other lawmakers introduced bills meant to discourage teachers from touting the benefits of sex within a monogamous, heterosexual marriage.

Those efforts failed and both bills died in the Senate’s Committee of Education Pre-K-12.

Collier’s policy change is not a change in sex education curriculum. The district plans to keep its current curriculum, but make the wording in its current policy more specific about what the teachers should teach. Board member Richard Calabrese brought the issue of changing the policy before the board last month, saying he was concerned that teachers are not choosing to use the supplemental material, which includes information about contraception, because they believe it is against district policy.

Board member Julie Sprague, who was a health education teacher at Gulf Coast High School until the election, told board members Thursday a supplement to the sex education curriculum, which includes information about contraception, is used in Collier County classrooms, but not all of them.

Carroll said she hoped health teachers would become involved in the policy revision process.

“It appears the main issue with the policy is the teachers aren’t comfortable with the wording of the policy,” she said. “We need to find out what the teachers need.”

Volusia County’s change from abstinence-only education to a curriculum that stresses abstinence while teaching students about birth control requires that eighth-grade students receive information about contraceptives, including birth-control pills, condoms, sponges, cervical rings, intrauterine devices and other methods. The methods’ effectiveness and failure rates will be discussed.

The school system’s sex-education curriculum will still focus on abstinence as the only sure way to prevent pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

The state of Florida requires comprehensive health education that addresses “concepts of community health; consumer health; environmental health; family life, including an awareness of the benefits of sexual abstinence as the expected standard and the consequences of teenage pregnancy; mental and emotional health; injury prevention and safety; nutrition; personal health; prevention and control of disease; and substance use and abuse.”

Officials at the Florida Department of Education said Friday that school districts are free to interpret that information as they see fit, including abstinence only curricula or curriculum that includes discussion about contraceptives.

Collier County schools teach sex education at both the middle and high school levels. At the middle school level, sex education is taught for 10 days in science classes. The curriculum, which includes a text previewed and selected by a committee of teachers, administrators and community members, teaches students that abstinence is the only sure way to avoid STDs, HIV and pregnancy. The curriculum also addresses the reproductive systems, the use of condoms and sexual decision making.

At the high school level, students have to take one credit in physical education to include the integration of health education. The course contents include abstinence as the only sure protection, lessons about the male and female reproductive systems, breast and testicular self exams, pregnancy and fetus development, STDs and AIDS, blood borne pathogens and birth control.

In addition, the school must provide question boxes for students to ask questions anonymously. The teacher has discretion in answering questions and they are answered directly and honestly or researched by the teacher and students. On-site school nurses are also available to all secondary students to answer questions.

Parents may choose to opt their child out of the program if they have objections, which is a provision provided to parents in all Florida counties, according to Department of Education officials.

In Lee County, students are also taught sexual education at the middle and high school levels. At the high school level, students are taught “sexual behavior and consequences,” according to the district’s Web site.

At the middle school level, students have lessons in “family life education,” according to the Web site. This includes discussion about abstinence, AIDS and communicable diseases.

Broward County’s school district follows a similar “abstinence plus” model, meaning that starting in the seventh grade, students are taught that abstinence is the only way to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. Seventh-graders also start learning about contraception, such as condoms.

For younger students, the district follows an abstinence-only model that’s grade-appropriate.

Palm Beach County’s sex education curriculum, in place since 1992, is called “abstinence based.” The program stresses abstinence as the only certain way to avoid pregnancy and disease, but also gives students information about condoms and birth control, beginning in the sixth grade.