Parents Need to Know How Sex Education is Taught in their Schools

Family North Carolina Magazine—May/June 2007

By Traci Griggs

Since 1995, North Carolina law has mandated that school systems teach sex education with a focus on encouraging students to wait until they’re married to have sex. Despite objections from the law’s detractors, Abstinence Until Marriage (AUM) education, when correctly implemented, is highly effective in delaying teen sex, reducing teen pregnancy, and curtailing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). In addition, teens who abstain from sex are less likely to be depressed and to attempt suicide, less likely to contract STDs, become pregnant, and live in poverty as adults. They are more likely to do well in high school and go to college, and more likely to have stable and enduring marriages as adults.

Despite all the potential benefits of teaching AUM, there has been little support from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to ensure that AUM is being taught correctly or being taught at all. There are no accountability measures in place to monitor what school systems are teaching in regards to sex education and no reporting mechanism to track what is being taught in individual schools. Sarah Langer, Evaluation and Abstinence Consultant with DPI, says DPI serves only as a resource for school systems as the individual systems seek to comply with the law. However, a look at the law governing sex education demands an oversight and participation from DPI and the State Board of Education that is not occurring at the state level.

When we contacted DPI to inquire as to the status of these responsibilities, we received an e-mail from Vanessa Jeter, Director of Communications and Information with DPI which read, “Our Healthy Schools’ consultants tell me that there currently are no Board approved abstinence curricula as referenced in 115C-81.”

Therefore, at this point, it appears the best way to ensure that local school systems are complying with the abstinence until marriage law is for parents of public school children to get involved. Here are some suggestions on how to proceed if you choose to do some investigating:

1) Find out if your school system is teaching AUM education as outlined in state law. There is a stipulation in the law that school systems can teach what’s labeled comprehensive sex education (CSE) if: a) the local board of education makes the proposed instructional materials available for review, and b) conducts a public hearing on the curriculum. Although no one maintains a list, it is estimated that 10 of the state’s school systems are teaching CSE.
If you find that this is the case in your school system, familiarize yourself with the curricula and inform other school board members and parents if there are things being taught that you do not agree with.

2) If your school system is still operating under the abstinence until marriage guidelines, get a copy of the law (N.C.G.S. 115c-81 e1) and familiarize yourself with it. It is available at www.ncga.state.nc.us. An excerpt of this general statute is included on pages 14-15 of this magazine.

3) Call your local school system and ask to review the sex education curriculum. If you encounter any resistance, it might help to contact your school board member for help. Be polite.

4) It is possible that they will not allow you to take the material out of the building, so come prepared to take notes. You can request copies of certain pages if you’d like, but there is no guarantee they will comply with this request.

5) Make sure that the curriculum your school is using matches up with the guidelines in the state law. If they don’t, you have every right to ask why.

6) Go home and research the curriculum on the internet. There is a great amount of information out there on national and regional curricula that can help you make your assessment.

7) If you have concerns or questions, feel free to contact the North Carolina Family Policy Council. We can’t do the research for you, but we can point you in the right direction.

Remember, you and other parents in your school district may be the only people who are checking to make sure that sex education is being taught correctly in your schools. Get the process going and use the many resources that are out there to help make your assessment. Ask for help from people in health professions or from those you know to be highly analytical or research oriented. Finally, let us at the North Carolina Family Policy Council know what you find in your school system.
Traci Griggs is director of communications for the North Carolina Family Policy Council.

Copyright © 2007. North Carolina Family Policy Council. All rights reserved.