DeKalb County, Ga., School Board Never Approved Abstinence-Based Sex Education Program, Officials Say

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 06 Feb 2005 - 18:00 PDT

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Officials from the DeKalb County, Ga, school district say that a "controversial" federally funded abstinence-only sex education curriculum that is being introduced in eighth grade health classes was never correctly approved by the school board, the…. Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (Sansbury, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2/3). About 50 parents -- including physicians, scientists and researchers -- last week during a presentation by school district officials about the abstinence-until-marriage Choosing the Best program said that students should receive more thorough information about pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease prevention. Critics said the program's approach to contraceptive use and disease prevention, including a focus on the failure rate of condoms, might discourage sexually active teens from protecting themselves. Parents also questioned the accuracy of the program's information on suicide and emotional problems experienced by teenagers who engage in sexual activity (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 2/1). A sex/AIDS education advisory committee in January 2002 approved the program to be taught in DeKalb County schools "with the understanding that there ... was no money to pay for it," Clarence Callaway, coordinator of health and physical education for the school district, said, according to the Journal-Constitution. Although the committee's recommendation should have gone to the school board for approval, it never did, according to Callaway, who added that the school district's sex education programs always have had an abstinence-only focus, the Journal-Constitution reports. The Choosing the Best program received a federal three-year, $1.5 million grant in 2001 and a three-year $2.4 million grant in 2004 to serve eight Georgia school districts, including DeKalb county schools, according to the Journal-Constitution. At least one county school principal has agreed to put the program on hold, but officials say that parents at other schools have not yet raised concerns over the curriculum (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2/3).

Opposing Opinion Pieces
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday published opposing opinion pieces on the DeKalb sex education curriculum. The editorial and opinion piece are summarized below:

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Although there is "nothing wrong with putting a little fear in 14-year-olds" to "abstain from sex until marriage," the Choosing the Best program "twists statistics to make its case, in essence misleading children in order to help them," the Journal-Constitution editorial says. "[T]he whole controversy about abstinence-only education has to move to a larger scale than a middle school cafeteria in central DeKalb" because "no matter how much Americans want their children to delay sex until marriage, most don't," the editorial says, concluding, "Pretending otherwise -- in the name of protecting kids -- does just the opposite" (Atlanta Journal Constitution, 2/4).
  
  
• Bruce Cook, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The Choosing the Best program has brought Georgia more than $2.4 million in federal grants, "making it possible for 85,000 students to have access to an abstinence curriculum," Cook, chair of the Georgia Department of Human Resources board of directors and founder of the Choosing the Best program, writes in an opposing opinion piece. "[R]esearch and common sense show that teens are better off without engaging prematurely in sexual activity," Cook writes, adding that the program's abstinence-based message is "one that any parent would endorse" (Cook, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2/4).
  
  "Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork.org kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/repro The Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.