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State law doesn't limit sex ed to teaching abstinence only

Posted January 21, 2008 10:00 pm

Pete Sherman

Is there more to sex education than just saying no?

That's what the Springfield School Board plans to start talking about tonight (Tuesday).

Local public school health courses have taught for years that sexual abstinence before marriage is the only safe and reasonable choice. But that approach may be on the verge of changing.

In a recent discussion, members of the school board expressed interest in accommodating other views in sex education. And in response to reports about the board's questions, officials of the Illinois State Board of Education said Springfield's abstinence-only focus is more limited than state law requires.

"It is a local decision," said ISBE spokesman Matt Vanover. "If schools want to teach abstinence only, they certainly can. It's within the code. If they want to go beyond that, it's their local prerogative."

In Springfield, sex education is taught in seventh- and 10th-grade health classes.

Gloria Skaggs, who teaches health at Grant Middle School, says the typical seventh-grader has a lot to learn.

Skaggs' students will say a baby grows in its mother's "stomach." Before Skaggs teaches them about cervical cancer, she has to tell them what and where a cervix is. The students overestimate the prevalence of AIDS and HIV and underestimate how easily more common sexually transmitted diseases are spread.

Skaggs, along with many in the Springfield School District, prefers the abstinence-only curriculum when it comes to sex education.

"I love the content and the curriculum," said Skaggs, who has a master's degree in adolescent development and also has taught the subject in high school. "It talks about setting goals for the future and how risky behavior can get in the way."

Teaching the material requires a balance of seriousness and humor.

There are points during her semester-long course, Skaggs says, when her students betray their age. In the first days of class, Skaggs has them recite in unison the names of certain body parts they often will hear about during the coming weeks. That's to get the giggles out of the way.

"They can't believe they're allowed to say the words out loud," Skaggs said.

But their knowledge of sex also can be surprising. Skaggs mentioned the Internet, cable television and other media as culprits.

"My kids are street smart," she said. "They have a lot of questions. But they think they know a lot. They think oral sex is safe."

One mother of both a local high school student and a Grant seventh-grader confirms Skaggs' suspicion of the Internet. While checking the weather on the laptop the school provided her eighth-grade son, she stumbled on a site he had visited that showed various sexual positions.

"I think it's more of a curiosity thing at that point," said the mother, who asked to remain anonymous. She assumes the Web address is making its way through the school's hallways.

"But the more information you give them, the more curious they become. By the time they're 10th-graders, they just know too much," she said.

The district's health class and sex-ed curriculum characterizes condoms, birth control and other forms of pregnancy and disease prevention as risky choices. Sexual abstinence before marriage is presented as the only reasonable, mature approach.

Abstinence has a strong hold throughout the district. When Southern Illinois School of Medicine representatives recently visited district middle schools to talk about cervical cancer, Kathy Hulcher, who oversees the district's health curriculum, censored a few words out of their presentation.

The district also keeps a close eye on groups such as Planned Parenthood, which visits some schools but not others. However, depending on the teacher who did the inviting, the organization sometimes can get away with teaching more than abstinence in individual schools.

When school board members at their last meeting discussed whether the district should buy abstinence workbooks for seventh-graders - the books used to be free - some members asked if Springfield schools are required to stick to an abstinence-only curriculum.

District officials said the policy is a state requirement.

But after reading an article about the discussion in The State Journal-Register, Illinois State Board of Education officials challenged the district's interpretation.

The Illinois school code stresses abstinence before marriage, but leaves the door open for other views, the ISBE said.

Of all school districts in the state, roughly one-third teach only abstinence, a third add other perspectives (often called "comprehensive sex education"), and the remaining third avoid the birds and bees entirely, according to state officials.

School board president Erin Conley said the board is at least interested in revisiting the district's policy, which dates back several years.

"We are going to talk about it (at today's board meeting), but I didn't add it to the agenda," Conley said. "I'm sure the discussion will continue past this meeting. We will want community input, of course.

"We should at least acknowledge (that the state permits going beyond abstinence). If the majority is happy with the route we've been going, fine. Not everyone is interested in revisiting the issue."

The board will find a broad range of opinions among district parents.

"Personally, I would teach abstinence," said Rick Kramer, the father of an eighth-grader at Franklin Middle School. "I don't have any problems teaching the clinical aspects. But I'm not for handing out condoms and saying, 'Knock yourselves out.'

"I don't think the schools should take a stance one way or the other - most of that should come from home. But I'm a realist. A lot of times (students) don't know any better."

The mother of the Grant seventh-grader says that, for 10th-graders, "abstinence-only is not age-appropriate. It's a joke amongst sophomores when it's taught. But for seventh-graders, abstinence-only is age-appropriate."

Hulcher said the decision will be up to the school board.

"If the board wants us to look at it again, we do what the board wants us to do," she said. "There are lots of different views in the community. We want to do what's right for our students, and we want to have the community's voice in it also.

Pete Sherman can be reached at (217) 788-1539.

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