Parents Criticize Ill. High School For Including Unit On Birth Control In Biology Curriculum

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 18 Jan 2008 - 8:00 PDT

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An Illinois school board on Monday heard public comments about Maine South High School's freshman biology curriculum, which teaches about birth control, the Chicago Tribune reports. About 100 people on Monday attended a Maine Township High School District 207 School Board meeting. The teaching materials for the curriculum are state-approved, and the lesson follows Illinois School Code, which requires sex education classes to include HIV/AIDS education, promote abstinence and teach about sexually transmitted infections, School Superintendent Joel Morris said.

According to the Tribune, parents spoke both in favor of and against the curriculum. Some parents complained that the lesson, which includes instruction on how to put on a condom, is inappropriate. One parent, Corky Allegretti, said she asked the conservative Illinois Family Institute for help after seeing the materials of the class. Some supporters of sex education told the board that IFI -- which according to its Web site works to "promote and defend biblical truths" -- should not be allowed to influence Maine South's curriculum decisions.

Morris said the district has not discussed removing the unit, titled "Meiosis/Reproduction," but "that's not to say we wouldn't at another time." Morris added, "We'll continue to look at the curriculum and determine what's appropriate. We're ensuring that all parents have that opt-out provision for any class that deals with the sex-ed topic."

Some parents also said they were upset that the lesson, taught by a male teacher in a coed class, is not included in the curricula at the other high schools in the district -- Maine East and Maine West. Morris could not explain why Maine East and West were not teaching the birth control lesson but said that it could be because they are using older textbooks (Schroedter, Chicago Tribune, 1/16).

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