Montgomery County Board of Education members unanimously passed a controversial sexual education curriculum at their meeting Tuesday. It will be tested in select schools this spring.
“I think we are late” in having frank classroom discussions about issues including sexual orientation, Board of Education President Nancy Navarro said following the vote. “I think this was a very balanced, fact-based beginning.”
The curriculum was the product of a nearly yearlong effort by a special committee of parents and community members assembled due to a lawsuit settled by the school district in 2005. At issue was the content of two 45-minute lessons on sexual orientation for eighth-graders, two 45-minute lessons for 10th-graders and a controversial DVD on proper condom usage for 10th-graders.
Dozens of community members and parents on both sides of the issue filled the Board of Education room. Some opponents held handmade signs urging the board to vote against the curriculum.
“I think there will be a lot of lawsuits, not only by perhaps [Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum] and ex-gay groups, but also parents,” said John Garza, vice president of CRC. Garza said the curriculum “clearly discriminates against ex-gays” and provides “a lot of false information, such as homosexuality is innate.”
Though she hopes to avoid another lawsuit, Board Member Patricia O’Neill said she thinks the curriculum will “stand the test of litigation.”
Betsey Brown, director of the county’s curriculum department, said previously the controversial lessons will be scripted and teachers will not be allowed to bring in their own information or materials. Students with questions outside the scope of the scripted lessons will be encouraged to talk with a health professional, Brown said.
The curriculum will state that “sexual orientation is innate and a complex part of one’s personality.”
