- April 18, 2024
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Parents and school officials appear at odds about a possible expansion of the district’s abstinence-only sex curriculum.
Susan Warner, instructor of the Teenage Parenting Program at Flagler Palm Coast High School, believes in abstinence-plus.
“I really honestly think it’s come down to a generational thing,” she said of the reactionary divide at the April 7 Healthy Choices/Sex Education Public Forum, which examined the possible broadening of the school district’s sex education. Students who spoke at the meeting appeared unanimously in favor of expanding the curriculum, she said, while most parents adamantly opposed it.
“Sex is out there. Teens are having sex everyday … I just think we need to move forward. We’re in 2011. We need to get real here,” she said.
But inside Board Chambers, opinion was split.
Of nearly 30 speakers, most were parents who feared that their rights to educate their children privately about sex was being threatened. Others were county health officials. And several more were students, every one of whom campaigned for more comprehensive sex ed.
Katrina Townsend, Flagler Schools director of student services, opened the night by reviewing district teen sex statistics from a 2009 health department study, as well as presenting the results of a recent sexual activity/education survey issued to county students, parents and community members.
Of 2,660 students surveyed, 51.7% were 13 or younger; 31.5% were 14 or 15; and 16.9% were 16 years or older. According to the survey, one-third of all Flagler students are sexually active. About three-fourths of students surveyed declared an interest in schools offering more information about sex and what to do to stay healthy.
“I feel like Flagler County might have failed me,” one FPC junior said. “I could have fallen into those statistics … I don’t know what ignorance or avoidance is going to do for this.”
Townsend recommends that the new curriculum begin at grade six. The availability of condoms on school grounds, however, she called a “completely separate issue.”
Many parents, though, feared one thing may lead to the other.
“Keep them away from my children, my grandchildren,” one resident said. “Let it come from the families, the churches. Keep it out of the schools. It doesn’t work, and it never will work.”
“By passing out condoms, you all are condoning the options,” said a parent of four, to applause from the crowd.
But abstinence-plus has never meant condom distribution, said Georgia Carnicella, program director of the Central Florida Mental Health Service. “The fact is, (sex-ed) isn’t being taught at home. If it was, we wouldn’t have the issues we have now … We need to listen to our kids — they want information … If you say it’s not happening, your head is in the sand.”
According to Flagler Health Coordinator Sara Bruce, it is “well documented” that contraceptive availability in schools shows no increase in sexual activity.
“You’re hearing all these parents, but you’re not listening to the children,” one student said, sobbing. “We want the knowledge. We need to know!”
“It should be taught at home,” another student said, “but most of it’s not … The kids deserve a voice.”
A third student suggested that refusing to educate students in sex is akin to punishment — an “If you disobey me, you’ll get an STD” paradigm. “Children are too scared to tell their parents anything,” she said. “How do you think students (without involved parents) are getting their knowledge? They’re not.”
The question of who would teach the new curriculum was also raised by opponents.
“There’s a lot of teachers I wouldn’t want teaching my kid about sex,” said Warren Sanson, an FPC teacher. He likened abstinence-plus to giving a 16-year-old keys to his first car, advising him never to drag race, but saying, “if you do — here’s a helmet … a harness.”
Despite the high tensions of the night, School Board member John Fischer felt neither the forum nor the data offered sufficient information. With only 52 community members and 144 parents surveyed out of a population of 70,000, he said, “it seems a little difficult to make any concrete (decisions).”
Fischer called the forum turnout sad and embarrassing. “It shows me that there’s a lack of concern,” he said. “… This place should have been packed.”
Warner, who was a teen mother herself, was also disappointed at the turnout. “I really expected a lot more,” she said.
She also believes many parents have the wrong ideas about abstinence-plus.
“It’s always a touchy subject when you mix sex and religion,” she said. “… Answer (children’s) questions and be honest with them … Knowledge is power.”
