Sex education

School Health Advisory Council members met Thursday and voted to recommend to trustees the hiring of two teachers to work with junior high sex education next year.

The two teachers will focus on the seventh and eighth grade levels. At this point, the council decided to recommend putting two positions in the board of trustees' budget without going further into detail.

Council members heard the Life Center has not been able to get time scheduled to present its abstinence-based sex education classes to district high school students. Members recommended scheduling such times.

SHAC members also discussed how to reinforce the abstinence message from the Life Center program by adding more focus on sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy.

"We are wanting to find out how to explain the consequences of being sexually active," chairperson Jeff Russell said. Member Gino Solla said he agreed some additional measures were needed to supplement, not replace the abstinence education.

"I feel there is a need; the abstinence-base is good, but it is not the sole thing that will prevent pregnancy and STD's," Solla said.

Russell brought up the need to try a new approach at the Teen Parent Center due to several repeat pregnancies. He said the district may need to offer contraceptive education at the TPC as well as offer enhanced relationship counseling to prevent such repeats.

The council also agreed to examine why some schools are using opt-in forms for sex education instead of the opt-out forms provided by the Life Center. The number of students taking the classes has differed across schools because some have treated it more like an elective to sign up for as opposed to a class to be declined by parents for religious or ethical reasons.

In order to discuss the issues more in-depth, Russell assigned council members to four sub-committees: curriculum, calendar, communications and the Teen Parent Center.