Volusia to expand sex-ed curricu

Volusia to expand sex-ed curriculum

by Linda Trimble

DELAND -- Sex education classes in Volusia County schools are about to be expanded to include information on birth control and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases beginning in eighth grade.

Superintendent Margaret Smith made that decision -- which will be reported to the School Board Tuesday -- after reviewing a report from a community advisory committee that recommended such an "abstinence-plus" curriculum be adopted for high schools.

Smith said she decided the abstinence-plus program should start in eighth grade instead -- for students whose parents approve -- to educate them earlier about how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases.

"When I found out the (sexually transmitted disease) situation really jumped at eighth grade, I thought that was the basis for starting that then so they hopefully would know how to protect themselves in terms of disease," Smith said in an interview last week.

The number of sexually transmitted infections reported to the Florida Department of Health for people age 15 to 19 increased 21.3 percent between 2005 and 2007, according to a report submitted to the sex education advisory committee. Volusia's cases increased by 35 percent in that same period.

The superintendent had asked the committee to review the sex education issue last fall after an Ormond Beach mother complained the "abstinence-only" approach used by Volusia schools for years was ineffective and biased against gay and lesbian students, charges its supporters deny.

Florida law requires school districts to "teach abstinence from sexual activity outside of marriage as the expected standard for all school-age students while teaching the benefits of monogamous heterosexual marriage."

It does not prohibit them, however, from going beyond that.

A 2007 survey showed 26 Florida school districts, including Volusia, used the abstinence-only approach to teaching sex education. Flagler was one of five districts that didn't respond to that survey.

Twenty-eight districts reported using abstinence-plus programs, which include information on birth control, prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and sexual behavior other than intercourse. Eight other districts reported using a combination of approaches depending on students' ages.

Two-thirds of Florida high school seniors reported in the 2007 Florida Youth Risk Survey they'd had sexual intercourse, while 60 percent said they'd engaged in oral sex.

While some committee members had favored starting the abstinence-plus program at eighth grade as Smith now has decided to do, others said using two different approaches in middle school would present a mixed message to students.

"If I teach one thing in sixth and seventh grades and something different in eighth grade, it compromises my credibility and professionalism," Katherine Kelley, a Creekside Middle School physical education teacher who served on the advisory committee, said earlier.

But Smith said last week she doesn't see that as a problem. "I believe our teachers certainly are able to make a distinction between grade levels," she said.
The sex education curriculum change does not require School Board approval, Smith said, but she'll report her decision on the issue when the board meets at 4 p.m. Tuesday in the School Administrative Complex, 200 N. Clara Ave.