From:SARATOGANY@aol.com
Date:Mon, 17 Sep 2001 06:26:07 EDT
Subject:CA:Grossmont district looks at parent slips for sex education

Message from:
The Coalition for Safer Schools of NYS, PO Box 2345, Malta, NY 12020
John Myers, Director of Operations and Programs
Email to:SARATOGANY@aol.com
The Real or Perceived Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Student Protection Project

FYI
Grossmont Union High School District
P.O. Box 1043 La Mesa CA 91944
Office:(619) 644-8000
Fax:(619) 465-1349
TDD/TTY (619) 644-8132
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San Diego Union-Tribune, September 15, 2001
P. O. Box 191, San Diego, CA, 92112-4106
(Fax:619-293-1440 ) (E-Mail:letters@uniontrib.com )
( http://www.uniontrib.com )

Grossmont district looks at parent slips for sex education

By Jill Spielvogel, Staff Writer

EL CAJON - Worried that students might learn about homosexuality and bisexuality in classrooms, some Grossmont school district trustees want to require that parents sign permission slips before their children can participate in lessons that deal with sex.

Trustee Priscilla Schreiber suggested changing Grossmont Union High School District policy to require signed parental releases to participate in sex-education classes, as well as any assembly, club, activity or classroom discussion dealing with sex that is not included in the approved curriculum.

Schreiber took the proposal to the school board Wednesday for discussion. She and trustee Gary Cass said it would better protect parents' rights to determine what their children learn and send a message to teachers that it isn't appropriate for them to teach about such controversial issues.

"I'm trying to protect traditional values," Schreiber said. "Our kids are very vulnerable at this age."

The board was divided Wednesday on the policy change, but directed the school district staff to look into the implications of the proposal. The superintendent will make a recommendation to the board next month.

Current policy requires that the ninth-to-12th-grade district inform parents of sex-education curriculum and other controversial lessons and allows them to "opt out" of all or part of the instruction, Superintendent Granger Ward said. Students typically take family-life/sex-education courses in ninth or 10th grade.

Trustees Tom Page and Ted Crooks said they doubt the proposed change will resolve Cass and Schreiber's concerns that some teachers might stray from the curriculum and teach about homosexuality. Such teaching already violates district policy, Crooks said.

"It's the old Grossmont politics - it's symbolic," said Crooks, who believes the change would be a logistical nightmare for the 11-campus, 24,000-student district. "I don't believe there is a homosexual agenda in the schools."

In 1999, the district was embroiled in a controversy as it considered including homosexuals in its anti-discrimination policy, which eventually passed with Crooks and Page supporting it and Cass and Dan McGeorge opposing. Schreiber, not yet a trustee, was part of a failed effort to recall Crooks over the issue.

Schreiber and Cass said Wednesday they believe a state task force's recent recommendations to ensure homosexual students are not discriminated against in schools will lead to efforts to portray homosexuality as normal. Among the recommendations, which are not mandated, were stronger anti-discrimination training for teachers and incorporating positive images of homosexuals in classroom lessons.

Schreiber said she was also concerned about two district events last year, including an anti-discrimination film shown at Steele Canyon High School that included a homosexual and a student-club-sponsored art exhibit at Mount Miguel High School that included pictures of homosexuals.

Notices about controversial material can end up crumpled in a student's backpack and never make it to parents, she said.

Crooks and Page said the solution is ensuring that teachers are following the curriculum and making sure parents are properly notified and involved in what their students are learning.

Most districts in the state give parents the option of removing their children from sex-education classes, but a few have moved to require parents to provide written permission, according to the California School Boards Association.

On Wednesday, the 2,400-student Alpine Union district's board unanimously approved a policy change requiring written parental permission for students to participate in sex-education classes instead of allowing parents to ask that their children not participate in such instruction.

The Vista Unified School District has had a similar policy since 1995, and it has not made a difference in the numbers of students forgoing sex education, said Peter McHugh, an associate superintendent. It has created more work for school officials, who must track which students have their parents' permission, he said.
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