Capo USD Talks Sex Education Curriculum

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CA — Sex education. It's a taboo subject for many. One Orange County school district is still working on how to integrate the lessons mandated by the state, entitled the California Healthy Youth Act of 2015 into middle school and high school classrooms.

The Capistrano Unified School District, in a recent meeting, discussed issues related to the curriculum with families in hopes of reining in concerns built from misconceptions of the law. With a larger than normal audience in attendance, a concerns rang out with parents who felt emotionally charged as to what a California Healthy Youth Act sex-ed class and curriculum looked like.

Reviewing two curriculum choices, Capo USD's information officer Ryan Burris told Patch that no new solution worked this time around.

"Some teachers didn't want to stand up and teach all of the information that was in (the Health Connected Teen Talk curriculum). After reviewing with both teachers and staff, (Capo Unified School District) still felt it was not acceptable to the board and to the community,” he said.

At the moment, the Capo Unified School District is at work writing their own curriculum that will address the concerns of the content taught to kids, making sure it is age appropriate, according to Burris. Beyond the curriculum, the question of being mandated for students to learn certain issues got some south Orange County parents up in arms.

The California Healthy Youth Act is aimed at public school, only. It is not mandated over private schools, the Orange County Department of Education has said.

According to Burris, the Health Connected Teen Talk middle school and Teen Talk High School curriculum, originally developed in 2016, has still not been implemented in the Capo Unified school district.

“At the moment, we are still teaching the pre-California Healthy Youth Act sex education curriculum,” Burris told Patch.

Both parents and teachers shot the proposed curriculum down due to a variety of concerns. After that decision, “the biggest questions that parents had (regarding the California Healthy Youth Act) was regarding what is meant by the ‘opt in’ and ‘opt out’ portions of the California Healthy Youth Act,” Burris told Patch.

According to the Orange County Department of Education, all schools and districts are free to choose their own curriculum to teach, especially with regard to sex ed.

“Local boards have their own values,” OCDE Public Information Officer Ian Hanigan told Patch. Hanigan, well versed in the law behind the California Healthy Youth Act of 2015, has developed a Q&A that will help parents understand just what the state is mandating and what they can opt in or out of, with regard to their students. Parents at all public schools in California are given the choice to passively “opt out” of the middle school and high school sex ed discussion.

"The law makes it crystal clear that parents have the right to opt their children out of sexual education," Ian Hanigan told Patch.

According to his page, “what is the California Healthy Youth Act,” districts must ensure that students grades 7 through 12 receive instruction that covers:

• Human Growth and Development
• Comprehensive Sex Education
• HIV Prevention Education

Students must receive this course twice, once in middle school and again before they graduate high school.

The goals, according to Hanigan, are to provide students with the skills necessary to protect their reproductive health from HIV, sexual transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy.

As per the CA Healthy Youth Act law, students will also be taught to develop healthy attitudes towards gender, sexual orientation, body image, relationships as well as marriage and family. Sexuality is to be taught as a normal part of their human development. Kids will learn unbiased sexual health and instruction on HIV prevention, with clear tools to accomplish that end. They will learn how to have healthy, positive and safe relationships, as well as behaviors.

Hanigan admits, laws are open to interpretation, and many have questioned what was meant by a letter to the OC Board of Education, General Counsel, Mr. Ronald Wenkart stated that parents can excuse their children from “all or part of comprehensive sexual health education and HIV education” but the ability to opt out ends with sex education.

Children may be, and often are, exposed to ideas of gender equality, bullying, relationships, family, sexual orientation, discrimination in classroom curriculum.

“A child might learn about Harvey Milk Day, or have a social studies lesson on same sex marriage,” Hanigan said. “That is part of regular school studies, and is not part of the opt-out issue.”

According to Hanigan, Parents are more than welcome to opt-out of the sexual education curriculum, should they desire.

Other controversial topics of the California Healthy Youth Act, according to south Orange County parents, were discussions on the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted illnesses. But, there is also a place for teaching abstinence, according to Hanigan.

“Abstinence has a role in the new law. I think people have overlooked that,” Hanigan said. “Though abstinence cannot be discussed in isolation, there is language that makes it clear that abstinence is the only thing that can absolutely keep things like HIV, STI’s and pregnancy from occurring.”

Bottom line, according to the Orange County Department of Education:

• Parents can choose to opt out.
• Districts can choose their own curriculum to teach their students.

“These are key points that have been missed,” Hanigan told Patch. "Laws are up to interpretation, but each local district has their own oversight. We don’t oversee curriculum, we are merely a supportive body for the districts."

Deciding what curriculum would be best to address the California Healthy Youth Act has been problematic for some districts, like Capistrano Unified School District, where the choice for the best curriculum remains up for negotiation.

"We as a district want a curriculum that is acceptable for families and puts the power in their hands. Ultimately that is what we are working on," Burris told Patch. "We're going to get in the face of parents on this, as they want to be educated on 'opt out' so they aren't having to search in a backpack for that information, so they can at least participate in their children's education."

Reflecting on the recent school board meeting, Burris felt it was a good give and take, and that most parents appreciate what district is doing for their students.

"We will follow the law, (with regard to the California Healthy Youth Act) because we have to," Burris said, adding, "we will make sure the curriculum we develop appropriately threads the needle between opinions on both sides."

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