Newspaper Articles about Texas Health Textbooks
and Abstinence-Only Sex Education
for the September 8 Public Hearing
Board chairwoman addresses textbook adoption process
by APRIL CASTRO
Associated Press
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Tue, Sep. 07, 2004
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/9601724.htmAUSTIN - The chairwoman of the State Board of Education on Tuesday urged key members of the Senate to restore the board's authority to filter the content of textbooks used by Texas students.
The Legislature stripped the board of the authority to address textbook content almost a decade ago, after political controversy involving sex education in health books, which are being considered again this year.
Currently, board members can only vote to reject books based on errors or failure to follow the curriculum mandated by the Legislature. Without the authority to review the books' content, many errors have slipped through the cracks, said Geraldine Miller, chairwoman of the board.
Volunteer educator panelists review proposed textbooks for accuracy and adherence to state curriculum, using a checklist to ensure it covers all elements required by the state. The panel submits recommendations to the board.
"The books were not being read. Many errors were being missed," Miller said, testifying before the Senate Committee on Education.
Debbie Graves Ratcliffe, a spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency, said that it's not unusual for errors to be identified at the last minute, but publishers can be fined if errors are found and not corrected.
Teacher panelists who were considered experts in their fields were offended by the requirement that they check off boxes on the list, Miller said.
The Legislature "didn't realize that the teacher experts couldn't read the books anymore," Miller said.
Sen. Royce West, a Dallas Democrat, questioned Miller about how the Legislature could restore the board's authority but "take the politics out" of the process. Miller suggested working out a system that included checks and balances between all parties.
Controversial material in textbooks often comes under review, including sex education and abstinence in health books now under consideration and Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in biology textbooks that were adopted last fall.
"I hope that the legislators agree that that's a terrible idea," said Samantha Smoot, president of the public watchdog group Texas Freedom Network. "Unfortunately, too many State Board of Education members have abused their authority in the past by leaning on publishers to make changes in the books to reflect their on personal or ideological agendas."
Before the law was changed, board members could request that publishers add or delete specific topics and material.
"Now, they just determine whether it covers the curriculum standards and is error free," Ratcliffe said.
Sex ed hearing to draw crowd
Jenny LaCoste-Caputo
San Antonio Express-News
09/08/2004
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA090804.3B.healthbooks.5ee9d109.htmlNearly 300 people have signed up to voice their opinions to the State Board of Education today in Austin in a hot debate over how o and if o condoms should share space with abstinence in high school health textbooks.
Today is the last chance for board members to hear from students, teachers, parents, health professionals and activists before a Nov. 5 vote to adopt new health textbooks statewide.
All four of the books recommended to the board by a textbook review panel emphasize abstinence as the best option for teens and give minimal coverage to condoms.
Critics worry that teens won't learn lessons that could help them avoid sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. The state board's decision likely will have national implications because Texas buys more textbooks than any other state except California. Publishers often market books adopted in Texas to other states.
"A lot of people are upset about this. None of the proposed books have the information that we think needs to be in there to give kids basic, reliable information about how to protect their health," said Dan Quinn, a spokesman for the Texas Freedom Network. "What Texas kids learn, eventually kids around the nation learn. If we shortchange students here, we're shortchanging everyone."
Texas Freedom Network and 61 other organizations, including the Texas Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Texas School Health Association, have organized a campaign called "Protect Our Kids" to advocate for responsible health education. The group believes condoms should be included in the curriculum.
The group held a news conference Tuesday in Austin, announcing the results of a statewide poll that shows 90 percent of Texans favor teaching students age-appropriate, medically accurate information on abstinence, birth control and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.
Melissa Pardue, a social welfare policy analyst for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington group, said the proposed textbooks are in line with state rules. The state curriculum, called Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, says students should be able to "analyze the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of barrier protection and other contraceptive methods."
Pardue said teens are bombarded with messages about condoms and birth control, but not about abstinence.
"Texas standards have a very strong abstinence component. The people who developed them want teens to be taught the truth: that condoms and other forms of contraceptives cannot be 100 percent effective," Pardue said. "It's about time we stop lying to these kids."
State board member Don McLeroy said the board won't be able to satisfy everyone's concerns.
"Each side is making a reasonable request. They both want the textbooks to support what they're teaching at home themselves," he said.
McLeroy's solution: two different sex education programs.
"I think the books are great the way they are, but local school districts have the option to teach as much as they want to," he said. "There's no reason why a school can't offer two different programs. Why don't we give parents a choice?"
jcaputo@express-news.net
Texas again debates whether sex ed is too sexy
Associated Press
Sept. 8, 2004
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2784433AUSTIN -- Social conservatives and sex education advocates are clashing head-on in the debate of what Texas public school students should learn from their health textbooks.
Today the state Board of Education holds the final public hearing on which books will be used in the 2005-06 school year, replacing 11-year-old materials now being used.
The hearing has sparked a new round of debate over what's too sexy to be in the classroom and whether abstinence-only or lessons in contraception are the better policy.
The "Protect Our Kids Campaign," a group of sex education advocates ranging from Planned Parenthood to the Texas State Teachers Association, on Tuesday released results of a recent poll that showed 90 percent of adult Texans favor teaching "age-appropriate, medically accurate sex education that includes information on abstinence, birth control and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV."
The survey question was commissioned by the group and conducted by the Scripps Howard Texas Poll. The telephone survey polled 1,000 adult Texans from Aug. 9-26 and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
"High school is the last chance for many students to get this information and some of our children's lives will literally hang in the balance," Susan Moffat, an Austin parent of a public school student, said Tuesday.
Socially conservative organizations, such as Texans for Life and the Texas Eagle Forum, disagree. They have scheduled an "Abstinence Only" news conference in Austin before the state board meeting.
"We have seen what this `comprehensive' style sex-education is really about -- selling sex to kids," said Jim Sedlak of the American Life League, who plans several events, including protests at Planned Parenthood facilities, before the final vote.
"Students need to know that abstinence until marriage is not a mere suggestion, but an expectation," he said.
Members of the Protect Our Kids Campaign said they also support abstinence teaching, but that it is unrealistic by itself.
The Rev. Robert Karli, pastor of First English Lutheran Church, said he and many clergy members support teaching children to wait until marriage to have sex. But he said he also taught his sons about how to use a condom.
Dr. Kimberly Carter, an obstetrician/gynecologist at St. David's Medical Center in Austin, said she sees about 10 pregnant teenagers every week in her practice. She said most have some form of sexually transmitted disease.
"Most say education would have helped them," Carter said.
Texas has the nation's highest teen birth rate, with a rate of 64 per 1,000, according to the National Vital Statistics Reports.
The state-mandated curriculum requires that health books "analyze the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of barrier protection and other contraceptive methods."
Critics argue that three of the submitted books do not mention latex condoms and therefore do not adhere to the state requirement. One of the books includes a brief description of condoms.
Publishers have argued the books meet the requirements by including more detailed information about contraceptive methods in a separate student supplement and teacher editions.
Under Texas law, school districts have the option of providing abstinence-based sex education studies. Parents also may choose to take their children out of those classes.
By putting contraceptive and other information in the health textbooks, the state would eliminate the parental option on sex ed, said Kyleen Wright, president of Texans for Life.
"Sex education is not under attack. But you can't opt your kid out of a textbook for a mandatory course," Wright said. "They want to sneak this in the textbooks so parents can't opt out."
She also questioned the "age appropriate" standard in the survey question. She said parents would not have the option to determine what is appropriate for their child.
The 15-member board can only vote to reject books based on errors or failure to follow state curriculum requirements.
The books in question have already been reviewed by a panel of educators and parents appointed by the Texas Education Agency.
The decision could affect dozens of states because books sold in Texas, the nation's second-largest buyer of textbooks, are often marketed elsewhere. Texas, California and Florida account for more than 30 percent of the nation's $4 billion public school book market.
New sex-ed texts that omit contraception debated
By JANET ELLIOTT and JO ANN ZUIGA
Houston Chronicle
Sept. 9, 2004
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2785570AUSTIN - High school students in Houston and elsewhere may not learn about preventing pregnancy and disease in proposed new textbooks that teach abstinence exclusively.
The proposed new books were the subject of emotional debate Wednesday during the final of two public hearings before the State Board of Education. More than 300 people signed up to speak about the books, which will be voted on by the Education Board in November.
Critics of the books, which will replace 11-year-old texts, said that they lack a discussion of condoms and contraception in violation of the curriculum requirement that health books "analyze the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of barrier protection and other contraceptive methods."
For example, Holt, Rinehart and Winston's Lifetime Health lists 10 steps for students to protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases. The use of latex condoms is not one of them. Students are advised, however, to get plenty of rest.
Supporters of the books said that local school districts have the option to use supplemental materials that discuss ways for sexually active teens to protect themselves from pregnancy and disease.
The Houston Independent School District has an "abstinence-plus" program, which means that classes discuss contraceptives and birth control in middle and high schools, officials said.
The main high school textbook, Making Life Choices, and the teaching stress that abstinence is best to prevent HIV infection, sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy. But students are instructed on various contraceptive methods, reliability rates of each and how to access other resources.
HISD emphasized that parents have the right to remove their child from any part of the district's human sexuality instruction.
The district is considering adding or expanding four after-school sex education programs, including one called "Sex Can Wait." Some of the programs are abstinence-only and others are abstinence-plus.
The Austin hearing featured testimony from parents, students, doctors and teachers. One speaker prayed for the removal from office of public officials who support comprehensive sex education.
Outside the state office building where the hearing was held, a dozen people held signs urging motorists to "honk for sex ed."
Several lawmakers were among those testifying.
Rep. Bill Zedler, R-Arlington, praised the books for omitting information about contraceptives. He said those decisions should be made by local school boards as the "best way to have parental involvement."
Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, urged the education board to reject all four proposed books as not meeting curriculum requirements.
"It is a sad day in our state when we rank first nationally in the number of teenage pregnancies but we are on the verge of approving health textbooks that do not mention contraceptive methods," Farrar said.
Citing statistics from the Texas Department of Health, Farrar said there were more than 16,000 births to teenage mothers in 2002.
Supporters of abstinence-only programs said they need to be given time to work.
"Years of comprehensive sex education have failed. A double message blurs the direct abstinence approach," said Anne Newman, director of policy for The Justice Foundation, a San Antonio-based group that supports limited government and parental rights.
joann.zuniga@chron.com
janet.elliott@chron.com
State closes book on sex-education hearings
Factions weigh in on how much detail kids' texts should include
Thursday, September 9, 2004
Associated Press
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/090904dntexsexed.3a291.htmlAUSTIN -- What's too much sex for a textbook?
Social conservatives and sex-education advocates debated Wednesday whether health textbooks should focus on abstinence or include information on birth control and sexually transmitted diseases.
Spectators and speakers jammed a meeting room for the final public hearing before the state Board of Education adopts new health textbooks. The 15-member board will vote in November on which books will be used in the 2005-06 school year, replacing 11-year-old materials. More than 300 people had signed up to testify.
"We have to give our children a clear message: They are not expected to have sexual activity until marriage," said Jim Sedlak, executive director of the American Life League's STOPP International, which he said has 4,000 Texas members.
Samantha Smoot, president of the public watchdog group Texas Freedom Network, which supports more contraceptive education, said the information would prevent teen pregnancy and the spread of disease.
"This is not a battle of morals," Ms. Smoot said. "The moral thing to do is provide information that could save a teenager's life."
On Tuesday, the Protect Our Kids Campaign, a group of sex education advocates including Planned Parenthood and the Texas State Teachers Association, published results of a poll showing that 90 percent of adult Texans favor teaching "age-appropriate, medically accurate sex education that includes information on abstinence, birth control and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV."
The survey question was commissioned by the group and conducted by the Scripps Howard Texas Poll. The Aug. 9-26 telephone survey polled 1,000 adult Texans and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Socially conservative organizations, such as Texans for Life Coalition and the Texas Eagle Forum, disagree.
At the news conference, they challenged what would be deemed appropriate materials for children.
Ms. Smoot and members of the Protect Our Kids Campaign say they also support teaching abstinence, but they say that's unrealistic by itself.
Texas has the nation's highest teen birth rate, according to the National Vital Statistics Reports.
The state-ordered curriculum requires that health books "analyze the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of barrier protection and other contraceptive methods."
Critics contend that three of the submitted books do not adhere to the state requirement because they don't mention latex condoms.
Publishers say the information is included in a separate student supplement and teacher editions.
Under Texas law, school districts may provide abstinence-based sex education, and parents also may choose to take their children out of sex ed classes.
By putting contraceptive and other information in the health textbooks, the state would eliminate the parental option on sex ed, said Kyleen Wright, president of Texans for Life.
"Sex education is not under attack. But you can't opt your kid out of a textbook for a mandatory course," Ms. Wright said. "They want to sneak this in the textbooks so parents can't opt out."
Naked City
SBOE Still Dislikes Sex
BY RACHEL PROCTOR MAY
Austin Chronicle
http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2004-09-10/pols_naked3.htmlThe State Board of Education held a second round of hearings on proposed health textbooks Wednesday, setting off the usual clashes between liberals and conservatives n nearly 300 signed up to speak n who both want to see their view of the world reflected in classrooms. Sex education is the hot topic this time around.
The writers and publishers of the four high school health textbooks up for adoption (two from Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, one from Delmar Learning, and one from Austin-based Holt Rinehart and Winston) have interpreted the state's requirement that schools provide don't-have-sex-ed ("abstinence-based health education") to mean that texts should not include any contraceptive or STD-prevention information. While the proposed books do come with supplemental booklets that get into the nitty-gritty, this leaves the door open for the same forces mobilizing to keep the condoms out of the textbooks to also keep the supplements out of the classrooms and provide an education that is not abstinence-based, but abstinence-only.
Groups hoping the SBOE will reject the books argue that they can't legally be adopted, as they don't meet statewide Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills guidelines, which require students to analyze the effectiveness of various forms of contraceptives. Planned Parenthood and the Texas Freedom Network, two groups leading the charge, also released a poll showing 90% of Texans support "age-appropriate, medically accurate sex education that includes information on abstinence, birth control and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV." Nevertheless, after a first round of hearings in July, one of the textbook companies actually changed a list of risk factors for contracting STDs from "having unprotected sex" to "having unprotected or protected sex." The board will vote on the books in November.
Sex education issue sparks spirited discussion
Jenny LaCoste-Caputo
San Antonio Express-News
09/09/2004
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA090904.5B.health_books.63fb9b51.htmlAUSTIN -- More than 300 people jammed a public hearing to choose the state's health textbooks Wednesday, and the debate over sex education split along unlikely lines, with pastors, doctors and teenage girls rebutting each other.
The State Board of Education took testimony into the evening from an audience divided about whether schools should talk about condoms.
The board is scheduled to vote Nov. 5 to adopt new health textbooks.
All four books recommended to the board by a textbook review panel emphasize abstinence as the best option for teens and give minimal coverage to condoms and other "barrier methods" that may reduce pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
Several people who spoke against the proposed books said they contain glaring errors and leave out crucial information.
If teens don't get the facts from schools or parents, they'll often go to unreliable sources, such as peers, teachers pointed out.
"Sex is a part of being a person and we need to teach all of the facts kids need to know to protect themselves," said Jeanette Sullivan, an English teacher at Roosevelt High School in San Antonio.
Sullivan said abstinence is the smartest choice for teens and should be encouraged. But Sullivan doesn't think it's realistic to rely on an abstinence program to keep teens safe, particularly in Texas, a state with one of the nation's highest teen pregnancy rates.
"I've taught kids who are going through their second pregnancies, kids who've had botched abortions, kids who are married at 13," she said.
But 16-year-old Sana Khalid said a curriculum that teaches both abstinence and the use of contraceptives sends a mixed message to students.
"Implementing and encouraging the use of contraceptives and condoms while keeping abstinence in the textbooks is extremely contradictory. You are basically telling us that it is OK to have sex as long as it is safe," said Sana, a junior at a Dallas-area high school.
That's not only confusing, it's potentially dangerous, Sana said.
"Contraceptives are not 100 percent effective. This is common knowledge," she said. "Practicing abstinence is the only sure, 100 percent way to prevent pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease."
The state curriculum, called Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, requires students be able to "analyze the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of barrier protection and other contraceptive methods."
Jennifer Vasquez, an Austin nurse, said the proposed textbooks don't include enough information about contraceptives to make that analysis.
"How can we expect an uninformed teen to become an informed adult if we don't educate them?" she said.
State education code also allows school districts to decide what lessons are taught as part of sex education, but state board members worry that's not happening.
Many of the speakers Wednesday had not even heard of health advisory panels o groups local school districts are required to form to decide on a supplemental sex education program.
"I contend that the local districts are not doing what they're supposed to be doing," board member Patricia Hardy of Fort Worth said.
jcaputo@express-news.net
Hide-and-seek
Houston Chronicle Editorial
Sept. 11, 2004
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/2789054Three of the four recommended new health textbooks for Texas high school students don't mention contraception. This is contrary to Texas' curriculum requirements o not to mention common sense.
Regardless of the outcome of recent hearings before the State Board of Education, the four books offered to the board's review panel already represent a frightening victory for ignorance. Rather than subject their textbooks to attack by abstinence-only extremists, the publishers simply self-censored their products before submitting them.
Publishing textbooks in Texas is a high-stakes game. Before the books reach the State Board of Education for selection, the materials are vetted by an advisory panel of nonspecialist volunteers. The panel judges whether the books "conform" to official Texas curriculum standards, "do not conform" but still meet at least half those standards, or meet so few of the standards that they are rejected altogether. The board then picks the acceptable books o a financial windfall for the publishers, who can then resell the texts throughout the country. This should be a fairly straightforward process, but in practice it is bitterly distorted. Texas health books, for example, legally must enable students to "analyze the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of barrier protection and other contraception." Yet the three books deemed "conforming" by the panel offer not a single word on birth control. How this prepares students to evaluate their options defies reason. Pretending these books meet Texas' obligation to its students crosses the border that divides cynicism from dishonor.
The deliberate denial of health information reflects the sway of activists who think teenagers should consider abstinence their only choice. Informing students of contraceptive options, the abstinence-only contingent says, signals acceptance, even encouragement, of premarital sex. Certainly, abstinence is the desirable choice. But to feign it is the "only" option for teenagers is delusional o and dangerous. No peer-reviewed journal has ever offered evidence that teaching abstinence-only delays teen sex, the New York Times recently reported. Meanwhile, the cost of ignorance is desperately high: Texas ranks first nationally in the number of teenage pregnancies.
For many Texas teenagers, accurate health education is their one weapon against sexual disease, improper relationships and unwanted pregnancy. If this state-mandated protection for young citizens is censored away, what will dominate their views instead? Television, of course. According to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, adolescents who often watch TV with sexual content are twice as likely to have sex as teens who watch few sex-laden shows. Since two-thirds of TV entertainment contains high sexual content, according to the RAND Corporation, that's a lot of "education."
Too bad Texas youngsters likely will lack books that could correct some of those teachings.
Texas Textbook Debate Revolves Around Issue of Abstinence Final Vote by State Board of Educ. Set for November
By Jim Brown and Jody Brown
September 10, 2004
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/9/102004f.asp(AgapePress) - Official debate over abstinence-only health textbooks in Texas public schools has ended.
On Wednesday, the Texas State Board of Education held its final public hearing on the four textbooks up for consideration. The books include two from Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, one from Delmar Learning, and one from Holt, Rinehart and Winston. In November, the board will vote on which ones to approve.
Opponents of the proposed books -- among them Planned Parenthood and the Texas Freedom Network -- claim the texts should include lessons on condoms and birth control. State guidelines require that students analyze the effectiveness of various forms of contraceptives, and opponents argue that since the heath textbooks being considered do not meet those guidelines, the books cannot legally be adopted.
But Cathie Adams with Texas Eagle Forum, who testified at the board's final hearing, says the publishers have already consulted teachers and parents about what they want their children taught.
"First and foremost ... this is not a sex education book; this is a health textbook," Adams says. "So in these health textbooks -- and in the one that I have personally read, the Glencoe health textbook -- it says that by abstaining from sexual activity, you never have to worry about an unplanned pregnancy. And [it says] you won't to have to worry about sexually transmitted diseases."
Adams contends that those of the "Planned Parenthood mindset" deceptively claim to support abstinence -- that while they may use the term "abstinence," they really mean something else. According to the Eagle Forum official, that camp says it knows people are supposed to abstain from sex because they are not married, but "like an animal nature, you don't really have the self-control that you need."
Adams says that lays the groundwork for offering condoms and the option of abortion -- and for undermining parental influence. Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion groups, she says, tell young people "here is where you go [for an abortion] once you get pregnant -- and we'll take care of you. We know that mom and dad are a little out-of-date.'"
Adopting the new textbooks, Adams adds, would be a "win-win situation" for parents, teachers, and "most importantly, the students of Texas."
EDITORIAL
Give districts a choice on health textbooks
Editorial Board
Austin American-Statesman
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/09/14books_edit.htmlTexas students are using 11-year-old health textbooks, so it certainly would be nice if schools had new, updated books to teach youths about making healthy choices during their lifetimes.
In elementary school, it might mean learning about self-esteem; in high school, it includes learning about the best way to prevent pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
The health textbooks that State Board of Education members are likely to approve in November would focus exclusively on abstinence. What that means for Austin students is that they would get books that ignore an important part of their health education curriculum. The Austin school district teaches an abstinence-based curriculum for its junior high and high school students. But the curriculum, which was approved in 1995 with broad community support, also includes information about the use of condoms and other contraceptives in preventing pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Austin's approach to sex education acknowledges the reality that the teenage pregnancy rate in Texas is among the highest in the nation.
There is no question that abstinence is the best way to avoid unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. But it's a no-brainer when a teenager is sexually active that the abstinence message didn't take. The preponderance of medical evidence shows that condoms, when used correctly, are highly effective in preventing pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and the HIV-AIDS virus.
That's why we're urging the State Board of Education to require that at least one of the four books up for adoption includes detailed and medically accurate information about condoms and other so-called barrier contraceptives. The board must stop playing politics with children's health.
Here's the absurd way that plays out in student textbooks: The Holt, Rinehart and Winston health textbook lists steps for students to protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases. Condoms aren't on the list. But one item on the list tells students to get plenty of rest.
As long as the education board members control the purse strings for public school textbooks, they can dictate content of textbooks. The Legislature legally curbed the board's authority in deciding textbooks precisely to get politics out of the process. But the board cleverly has exploited a loophole to retake that power.
In defending their position, state education board members claim that they are acting on parents' behalf. The question is: which parents? Undoubtedly there are parents who prefer an abstinence-only curriculum and there are school districts that follow that prescription. There should be books for those districts.
But many urban school districts, such as Austin, Dallas and Houston, have decided on abstinence-plus sex education. There should be health textbooks for districts that choose that approach. Nor should contraceptive information be relegated to supplemental handouts, as publishers have done. It should be in the textbooks.
A recent Texas Poll shows that 90 percent of Texans favor teaching students age-appropriate, accurate information on abstinence, birth control and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. Groups such as the Texas Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Texas School Health Association, the Texas State Teachers Association, the Texas Freedom Network and the National Coalition of 100 Black Women have joined to advocate for books that include information about family planning, contraceptives and disease prevention.
There is a simple solution to satisfying parents and school officials on both sides of this debate: Provide books that teach abstinence only and textbooks that teach abstinence-plus. Then let local communities decide.
Residents divided on sex education
By Nancy Flake
Montgomery County Courier
09/14/2004
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12916271&BRD=1574&PAG=461&dept_id=532215&rfi=6Montgomery County residents, like many others across Texas, are divided on one hot topic: sex education in schools.
Last week, hundreds of people jammed the State Board of Education hearing room in Austin to debate whether health textbooks up for adoption should focus on abstinence only or include birth control information. But the hours of emotional testimony may have been a waste of time.
The SBOE will vote in November on the health textbooks to be adopted for use beginning in the 2005-06 school year. It held hearings last week and in July to listen to the public's points of view. The public was outspoken, with some speakers demanding that students be taught abstinence only and many others making their case for giving students crucial information on preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases with contraceptives.
But state law calls for only teaching abstinence. And while the state-mandated Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills curriculum states students must "analyze the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of barrier protection and other contraceptive methods," it could be a bare-bones discussion.
Suzanne Marchman, of the Texas Education Agency, said it's debatable whether last week's testimony was a waste of time.
"But SBOE rules call for public hearing on textbooks, so they have to hold them," she said.
Even SBOE member Linda Bauer, of The Woodlands, who represents District 8, which includes Montgomery County, questioned the pertinence of the testimony.
"The books will contain abstinence-only information because that's what the state curriculum calls for," Bauer said. "What I or anyone else thinks is irrelevant."
The student versions of health textbooks don't have to include contraceptive information, Marchman said, so long as either the teacher's textbook or supplemental material to the textbook does.
"It's not an option in presenting or not presenting," she said, "but it's left up to the discretion of the teacher. It's a real fine line; some may throw a slide up and say, 'There you go,' and others may go into great detail.
"The student may not have all the information in hand."
State law also requires every school district to appoint a health advisory committee made up primarily of parents. Other members may be appointed by school boards, including teachers, administrators, students, healthcare professionals, senior citizens and law enforcement personnel, among others.
This sort of control at the local level pleases Barbara Cargill, of The Woodlands, SBOE member-elect who will represent District 8 when she is sworn into office in January.
"As a parent, I truly appreciate the way the Legislature has given local districts control over sex education," she said. "It's up to the health advisory council in each district (how they want to teach sex education), and these people know their students' needs."
Parents of high school students taking health also are given a chance to "opt out" their children from any sex education, according to Cargill.
In the Conroe Independent School District, parents can sign a form for that very reason, according to spokeswoman Kay Galindo.
"Only the parent can sign the form," she said. "A student whose parent signs the form will go into alternate study," such as a study hall.
"I appreciate that as a parent," Cargill said. "It gives me the right to decide. If we put all this information in textbooks, where is the parent opt-out?"
Still, parents are divided over what kind of sex education, if any, their children should get in school. For many, the state's abstinence-only curriculum is plenty.
"A lot of parents don't want just anybody teaching their kids about that," said Betty Anderson, of The Woodlands, who heads the Montgomery County Christian Coalition. "It's negligent for parents to avoid speaking to their kids (about sex). I want my kids to have very strong values. When I'm talking to my kids about pregnancy, I'm talking about after marriage."
Karyl Paige, a member of Mainstream Montgomery County, is just as adamant that students get as much information about contraception as possible during health class.
"Texas has the highest teen-age pregnancy rate (in the United States)," Paige said. "For years, since the State Board of Education took comprehensive sex education out of the textbooks, students have not had accurate sexuality information. The results of abstinence only has not been very good."
Nancy Flake can be reached at nflake@mail.hcnonline.net.
Health texts meet criticism, praise
By Ginger Pope
Odessa American
13 September 2004
http://www.oaoa.com/news/nw091304a.htmAs the Texas State Board of Education considers whether ninth- and 10th-grade health books should include information about contraceptives, ECISD officials and parents weigh in on the issue.
Sondra Eoff, a parent of 11- and 17-year-old boys, said information about contraceptives should be taught in the home, not schools.
"I'm comfortable if they approach it (sex education) from a Christian perspective," Eoff said. "I'm in favor of abstinence only being taught."
Conversely, Elena Golla, who has a 15-year-old daughter and 17-year-old son, said society should not rely on a childis random knowledge of sex.
"I don't want to offend anyone, but we are foolish to think that if we donit teach them, that they won't know," Golla said. "Do we want children to remain pure? Sure. But, I think it is naive if abstinence is the only method taught. The only way to be sure they have the right amount of knowledge is if you teach them."
The four books in question are available for review at Region 18 and could be adopted by the Ector County Independent School District for the 2005-06 school year. Region 19 media adviser Pam Winn said so far no one has asked to see the books.
It has been 11 years since the current health textbooks were adopted.
Critics of the proposed health textbooks say the books omit information about the use of contraceptives. Members of the State Board of Education had a public hearing in Austin last week, where much of the discussion centered on health textbooks for freshmen and sophomore students.
One critic, Dan Quinn of Austin, said the books leave out a required component of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills curriculum where students are to, "Analyze the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of barrier protection and other contraceptive methods including the prevention of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), keeping in mind the effectiveness of remaining abstinent until marriage," according to TEKS 115.32b7I.
Quinn and other activists have said the above skill means students should be presented with information on contraceptives and their uses. The proposed textbooks omit this, he said.
Quinn is the media director for Texas Freedom Network, an organization working with 62 other groups like Planned Parenthood who make up the group Protect Our Kids.
"That TEKS requirement is where the crux of the debate is," Quinn said. "To analyze the effectiveness of contraceptives."
Quinn said abstinence is the best choice, but students should also have information on family planning and contraceptives.
Other groups, such as the Texas Eagle Forum, argue against Quinn saying that teaching children about contraceptives gives them permission to have sex.
Abstinence only is a concept ECISD School Board member Doyle Woodall agrees with.
"When you teach children about contraceptives, you're giving them permission to have sex, and when you give a child permission to have sex, you give them permission to die," Woodall said. "It's a falsehood to say condoms prevent STDs or pregnancy."
"You can't just mention abstinence, you've got to pound it into the ground," he said.
Woodall said he would only consider a textbook mentioning contraceptives if it spoke to their failure rate. The State Board of Education is responsible for ensuring proposed textbooks meet state curriculum requirements. The local school districts can then select which book to use in a classroom from the books OK'd by the State Board of Education.
Nancy Clark, ECISD curriculum director, said the local school board has the final say on the books used in classrooms. ECISD ninth- and 10th-grade students only learn about contraceptives if they have parental permission. Currently textbooks and the "Dream Catcher" sex education portion of health courses are abstinence-based. However, Laura Mathew, director of ECISD Health Services, said the previous school board, prior to the May elections, asked that contraceptive education be an option.
"When we presented 'Dream Catcher' to the board at that time, they said, 'Well, that's good, but we want you to teach about contraceptives,' " Mathew said. "The district has used its own internal resources to add that one component to human sexuality course."
The "Dream Catcher" program is federally funded and so it has to be abstinence-based, Mathew said.
"We spend 95 percent of the time talking about abstinence and very little time about contraceptives," she said. The previous board said they wanted to give parents the opportunity to give children information on contraceptives through ECISD, Mathew said.
So the issue of contraceptives is discussed during only one day of the semester-long course. If a student does not have parental permission to hear about contraceptives then they go to the library or do some alternative activity.
Last spring semester was the first course to require permission forms and Mathew said there was positive response from parents. Out of all the ninth- and 10th-grade classes, between 95 and 100 percent of the parents consented to their child hearing about contraceptives, she said.
"The vast majority are in favor that in health class their child get the information," Mathew said. "So no child's parents are forced to get this information if they don't want to. But the majority of parents feel uncomfortable, and they trust ECISD to educate their children."
ECISD School Board member Carol Gregg said Mathew's statement is accurate that the prior board wanted information about contraceptives in the schools.
"Of course we favor abstinence as a first line of defense, but we also wanted information available for students who decided to be involved in sexual activity," Gregg said. "As to what the present board would say, I don't know."
The makeup of the school board changed in May when four new members, Doyle Woodall, Randy Rives, Renda Berryhill and Butch Foreman were elected. The remaining three members from the previous board are Gregg, Bill Rutherford and Floy Hinson.
Gregg said she couldn't comment on the textbooks in question for adoption because she has not seen them, but she does have a personal belief about health education.
"I do believe that information itself is usually beneficial," she said. "Accurate information on prevention is certainly not harmful."
TEA Debates New Curriculum For Sex Education
KLTV
9/13/04-Longview
http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2295210&nav=1TjDQrRjTexas schools have taught an abstinence based sex education to students for ten years. Right now the TEA is revamping the textbooks and some critics say it doesn't teach kids enough about birth control and protection.
Texas Education Commissioner, Shirley Neely, toured Longview High School today. She says individual schools can simply add information to the textbook as they see fit.
"I say we teach the state curriculum. A lot of this too is up to the local community. The good thing in Texas is we have a curriculum but that doesn't stop the school district from teaching more," says Neely.
The TEA is expected to approve 4 new textbooks that primarily teach abstinence. Three of the books don't mention contraceptives at all.
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