SW Washington Parent’s Rights in Education members offer their views of Battle Ground Public Schools Board of Directors’ decision
Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and do not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com
If you testify in a court of law, you’re required to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. If you’re a reporter with left-leaning tendencies, you don’t have to worry about such demands. You get to cherry pick what suits your narrative and disregard the rest.
According to the narrative, Battle Ground Public Schools (BGPS) had the opportunity to adopt “medically up-to-date” sexual health education curriculum, but instead took a step back when they rescinded their policy to teach sex ed on Oct. 28th.
Why would anyone object to a medically up-to-date curriculum? If you were being told the whole truth you’d know that the proposed Family Life and Sexual Health (FLASH) curriculum, as it’s written, pushes the withdrawal method without telling kids about the 22 percent failure rate; tells them that emergency contraception can be taken for up to 5 days without telling them it’s much less effective on day 5; doesn’t provide the failure rates for condoms; talks about oral and anal sex without telling them the risks of each; and embraces transgender ideology and language without telling students that the vast majority of kids with gender dysphoria (80-95 percent) will identify with their natal sex before reaching adulthood. Students also engage in various role-playing exercises regarding dating and sex that normalize teenage sex, and are repeatedly told they can obtain abortions, birth control, and STI testing without parental knowledge. The Co-Directors of Curriculum agreed to a few adjustments, but parents decided it wasn’t enough.
But why withdraw sex-ed altogether? The previous sex-ed curriculum was more acceptable, but the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) said it could no longer be used, creating the conundrum. OSPI is also in the process of working with legislators (and Planned Parenthood) to mandate Comprehensive Sexual Education (CSE) be taught in all districts in the state. The board decided to suspend the BGPS requirement to teach sex-ed pending the outcome of the next legislative session when two bills mandating CSE statewide, SB 5395 and HB 2184, will be debated.
The action caught the attention of Planned Parenthood, which promptly set up informational, strategy, and door knocking events (some since cancelled) in Battle Ground and elsewhere to push CSE, including a presentation in Longview with OSPI Sexual Health Education Program Supervisor, Laurie Dils. Why is OSPI in bed (pun intended) with an organization that profits from peddling contraceptives, abortion, and now transgender treatments to teens?
With such an effort to mandate CSE, you’d think parents must be clamoring for it. Not so. 58 percent of respondents in OSPI’s own survey said they did not want CSE. Further, a health impact review of SB 5395, couldn’t estimate the potential magnitude of impact on health outcomes, including changes in the rate of STIs or teen pregnancies.
The school board directors spoke of their concerns about bullying, an area that FLASH is supposed to address, but also said that there are a number of Obama era policies still in place that are effectively tying their hands on how much they can do. Instead of providing adequate consequences for bullies, we’re to believe a 2-3 week sex-ed curriculum is going to stop bullying.
SW Washington Parent’s Rights in Education encourages parents to look at the sex-ed curriculum being taught in your school, talk to the school board, and opt your child out of instruction, though remember with these topics being integrated into other subjects, it’s nearly impossible to avoid them altogether. For a good, basic sex-ed curriculum check online for the federally approved The Alternative. Then contact your legislators and tell them that curriculum decisions should be made at the local level. Parents have ultimate rights and responsibility for the care of their children, not school officials with an agenda, and the media who support them.
SW Washington Parents’ Rights in Education
