Sex Ed In Collin County Schools - Part 2

Texas Textbooks Not Mandated To Teach

This is Part 2 of a 5 part series on the state of sexuality health education in Collin County based on the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund study, “Just Say Don’t kNOw” by Dr. David Wiley, Dr. Kelly Wilson and Ryan Valentine. A copy of the study can be found online at www.tfn.org. The series is researched and written by Linda Magid.

In Part 1 of our series, we gave an overview of the state of sex education in Texas: statewide students are either misinformed or learn nothing at all about how to protect themselves from STDs and pregnancy beyond abstinence. In Part 2, we will look at how the Texas Education Code deals with sexuality health and what is and isn’t covered in the state textbooks and supplemental programs.

Students Learn Little to Nothing about Human Sexuality

Texas Education Code mandates that sexuality instruction must be part of public school curriculum and that abstinence be taught as the preferred choice of sexual behavior (“Just Say Don’t kNOw,” Wiley, Wilson and Valentine, pg. 5).

The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) states that students “should be able to ‘analyze the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of barrier protection and other contraceptive methods including the prevention of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), keeping in mind the effectiveness of remaining abstinent until marriage.’” (Wiley, et al., pg. 7).

Given students might be tested on this information, you might be surprised to learn that 4 of 5 Texas textbooks do not mention the word ‘condom’ ever. (Wiley, et al., pg. 8) The one textbook that mention condoms does so only one time. The four North Texas ISDs covered in this article use the textbooks silent about barrier protection from pregnancy and STDs.

SIDE BAR: HIGH SCHOOL HEALTH TEXTBOOKS APPROVED FOR USE IN TEXAS CLASSROOMS (Wiley, et al., pg. 8)

• Glencoe/McGraw-Hill: Health
• Glencoe/McGraw-Hill: Health and Wellness (McKinney, Frisco, Allen)
• Holt, Rinehart and Winston: Lifetime Health (Plano, Frisco, Allen)
• Thomson/Delmar Learning: Essentials of Health and Wellness
• *Harcourt: Harcourt Health and Fitness (used only by Frisco, not recognized by the TFN report as an approved textbook statewide).
  

According to the report, publishers self-censored the health education textbooks to avoid political battles in 2004. Rather than place condom information in the textbook, they included more in-depth information in the teacher’s edition and student supplements. However, few districts use these materials.

McKinney ISD is the only district of the four that use any publisher-written supplemental information - Glencoe Teen Health Course 1 and Workbook, Glencoe Teen Health Course 2 and Workbook, Glencoe Teen Health Course 3 and Workbook. According to the Glencoe website, these books are a “combination of course material and interactive multimedia resources” for middle school students, offering “instruction in the 10 health skills.”

Based on an interactive website presentation, it could not be determined if the materials mention sexual health at all.

Texas textbook publishers realize that they need to give students some kind of protection instruction and choose a non-offensive, and unhelpful, tack.

For example, Lifetime Health published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston (used by Plano, Frisco and Allen ISDs) attempts to address protection by substituting scientific information with behavioral modification.

The textbook offers “8 Steps to Protect Yourself from STDs” with steps like choosing good friends, developing appropriate decision-making skills and “getting plenty of rest.” None of the steps include using barrier protection. (Wiley, et al., pg. 9)

Are the textbooks used in our county’s school districts to teach abstinence-only information adequately preparing our students for impending adulthood? Do abstinence-only supplemental programs give our teens any support?

According to The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), abstinence-only programs “rarely provide information on even the most basic topics in human sexuality such as puberty, reproductive anatomy and sexual health.” (Wiley, et al., pg. 7)

Plano, McKinney, Allen and Frisco ISDs supplement their sexuality education with abstinence-only programs, and few of those programs cover essential health issues adequately or in depth.

For example, Aim for Success (McKinney, Allen and Frisco) offers no information on basic anatomy and physiology, puberty, menstrual cycles or any other basic sexuality education information. Worth the Wait (Frisco) includes some basic components of sexuality education but discusses only the negatives of birth control and only mentions STD testing.

According to a 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, over 50% of male and female high school students “reported having engaged in sexual intercourse at least once.” (Wiley, et al., pg. 8) With half the teens in Texas choosing to have sex, withholding vital health information from them based on political fear is reprehensible at best and dangerous at worst.

Specifically in our four largest ISDs, more research needs to be done to determine if they are avoiding both basic reproductive health information as well as medically accurate STD and pregnancy protection instruction.

Next in the series: Part 3 - “Condoms Don’t Work” and Other Misinformation.

The Texas Democratic Women of Collin Co. Will Host Guest Speaker Kathy Miller, Pres. Texas Freedom Network Education Fund, At The Group's Meeting On Monday, July 27, 2009. Ms. Miller will talk about the Education Fund's year-long study on sexuality health education in Texas public schools. See the "Calendar Box" in the left sidebar of this blog for more details.

Questions Submitted To DPCC Chair Candidates By DCDC

On July 22, 2009 the Democratic Party of Collin County (DPCC) Executive Committee,that includes all county precinct chairs, will elect a new chairperson in a special election.

To aid the DPCC Precinct Chairs in selecting the best qualified candidate for the county chair position, the Democratic Campaign Development Coalition (DCDC) has invited the candidates to answer questions at the group's July 14th general meeting, said DCDC spokesperson Linda Magid.

DPCC chair candidates Shawn Stevens, Victor Manuel and Marlene Byndon have agreed to participate in this candidate's forum.

All DPCC Precinct Chairs have been invited to attend this meeting. Rank and file Democrats in the county are welcome to attend this meeting, as available seating allows, however, DPCC Precinct Chairs will be given first preference for the available seats.

Because this special election cycle is so short and because time during the DCDC candidate's forum on July 14th is limited, DCDC has submitted fourteen key questions to the candidates. These fourteen questions ask the candidates to reflect on several different aspects of the local party's organization and potential to help elect Democrats for Collin County, statewide and national offices.

The candidates will be asked only a few of the fourteen questions during the candidate's forum discussion on July 14, according to the DCDC spokesperson. The questions will be selected and asked by forum moderator, David Smith. Mr. Smith, is a precinct chair in the county and a long time activist with the DPCC. During each question round the forum moderator will ask each candidate to answer a selected question. The candidates will be allowed by the moderator to specifically answer the question asked, or respond to another candidate's answer given in that round.

The DCDC has asked the candidates to return written answers to the fourteen questions by July 14. According to the DCDC spokesperson, the candidates' full written answers will be made available to the DPCC precinct chairs following the discussion forum.

Questions submitted to the candidates by DCDC are as follows:

Leadership

1. Define your leadership style and explain how it fits into your vision of leading the party.
   


2. Tell us how you would structure the party under your leadership and how you will recruit, train, work with and retain your executive committee of precinct chairs and committee chairs. What principles will guide you in recruiting and selecting volunteers, in particular for officers and committee chair positions?


3. Party members would like the party to be more inclusive and open. What, if any, changes would you make to recent county party leadership practices?


4. There are several active Democratic groups, such as the Democratic Campaign Development Coalition, Obama Collin County, Texas Democratic Women of Collin County, Stonewall Democrats, etc. Describe the kind of coalition--building relationships you will form between the Party and these organizations.

Strategic Plan

5. We have highlighted for you the draft strategic plan for the Democratic Party of Collin County and we know that you have participated in drafting it. In your vision for the party, do you agree with the goals set forth? Is there anything you would change? How would you implement it?
   

Winning Elections

6. What are your plans in the next several months for 2010 candidate recruitment and development?
   


7. What are your plans to help state-wide and local Democratic candidates get elected? Will your plans include reinstating the party’s Coordinated Campaign Committee?
   


8. We are aware the demographics of the County are changing as we grow; and we are aware there is an untapped and diverse citizenry who historically vote as Democrats, as seen in the recent election. What are your plans for outreach to these voters?
   

Fundraising

9. We recognize the need to raise funds for running the party, for the Primary, the county convention, helping get Democrats elected, developing IT infrastructure and paying for staff. What is your plan to ensure adequate funding for the party?
   

Party Operations

10. The coming Democratic Primary and County Convention are solely the responsibility of the party. What is your plan for administering them?
    


11. What will you do to ensure coordination and smooth operations between the Party and the County Elections Office regarding all election activities?
    


12. How will you use all of the technologies available today to meet our goals? What will be your approach towards making any improvements?
    

Other

13. We understand there is a Texas Democratic Party County Chair Association. Do you plan to take time to travel to Austin to participate in this association’s events, learn about best practices, and make an effort to implement improvements in our County?
    


14. If you don’t win this election, how do you anticipate working with the new county chair? If you do win the election, how are you going to bring the other two candidates and their supporters into the fold?
    

Sex Ed In Collin County Schools - Part 1

Editor's Note: This is the first of a five part series of articles about sexuality health education curricula found in Collin County school districts, researched and written by Linda Magid.

In February 2009, Texas Freedom Network announced that the Texas school system is failing to protect our students.

Based on a year-long study on sexuality health education in Texas schools titled “Just Say Don’t kNOw”, the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund (the research arm of TFN) has established that, statewide, curricula are based almost exclusively on abstinence-only textbooks and programs. These tools for teaching teens are misinforming (and sometimes blatantly lying to) students on how they can protect themselves from the risks of sexual activity if they choose to be sexually active.

The alternative program, abstinence-plus, which prepares teens for adult life decisions by presenting pre-marital abstinence as the best choice while providing accurate information on planned parenting options, is rarely taught in Texas schools.

In a nutshell, Texas teens leave high school and enter adult life unprepared for pregnancy prevention, defense against sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and general sexual health issues beyond abstinence.

While TFN has claimed for years that this kind of insufficient and potentially damaging education is going on, their report is the first to tally information directly from the school districts. 990 out of 1,031 school districts participated in the survey, a total of 96%. Of those 990, 94% use abstinence-only materials, 3.6% us abstinence-plus materials, and 2.3% skip sex education all together.

As a result of their research, Authors Dr. David Wiley and Dr. Kelly Wilson definitively declare, “Abstinence-only programs have a stranglehold on sexuality education in Texas public schools.”

None of the ISDs who use abstinence-plus materials are in Collin County. What do our schools use, then? And what can the report tell us about what our students learn in school regarding sexual health education?

Over the course of several segments, this blog will present what “Just Say Don’t kNOw” uncovers about the sexuality health education in Allen, McKinney, Plano and Frisco ISDs. We will also discover how effective our School Health Advisory Councils (SHACs) are in guiding the local School Boards on this topic. Lastly, we will offer suggestions on how to change the current trend of fear and misinformation in our health classrooms.

First, let’s look at how Texas fares in comparison to the rest of the country. According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, “young Texans overall rate well above national averages on virtually every published statistic involving sexual risk-taking behavior” (Just Say Don’t kNOw, pg. 1). Behavior such as:

• Having sexual intercourse (52.9% of Texan Teens vs. 47.8% national average);
• Having intercourse with four or more people (17.1% vs. 14.9%); and
• Not using a condom the last time they had intercourse (43.6% vs. 38.5%).

What is the result of so many Texas children engaging in sexually risky behavior? In 2006, Texas had the third highest teen birth rate in the country, an increase from 2005. In addition, Texas taxpayers spend an estimated $1 billion annually for the cost of teen childrearing. In 2008, Chlamydia cases among Collin County teens were up a staggering 27%. (Texas Department of State Health Services)

Second, let’s talk about the difference between abstinence-only sexuality health education and abstinence-plus. According to the TFN report,

“Abstinence-only sexuality education programs present abstinence as the only choice of acceptable behavior for unmarried youth.” (pg.7)

Currently, abstinence-only programs avoid discussing condoms and other contraception or they offer false and misleading information on contraceptives’ ability to offer risk protection (most specifically, condoms).

Abstinence-only proponents claim that telling teens how to have safe sex is akin to telling them to go and have sex. Texas teen birth statistics show clearly that teens are having sex regardless of what teachers tell them. The 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey reported that over 50% of Texas high school students reported having engaged in sexual intercourse at least once. (Just Say Don’t kNOw, pg. 8)

Across the country, abstinence-only programs are failing. According to the latest CDC report published March 18, 2009, “the birth rate for U.S. teenagers 15-19 years rose again in 2007 by about 1 percent, to 42.5 births per 1,000.” President Bush only offered Federal Title V compensation to schools teaching abstinence-only programs. Many schools across the country, already cash-strapped, took the bait to offset expenses. (Texas receives the most federal abstinence dollars - $18 million in 2007 alone.) We can now see the results.

On the other hand, abstinence-plus programs offer abstinence as the best choice to protect oneself but deals with the reality that not all students are going to make that choice. Programs in this category urge abstinence from pre-marital sex while teaching teens the facts of life to prepare them for adult life decisions. For example, abstinence-plus programs teach students who choose to be sexually active how to protect themselves from STDs by giving them medically accurate information based on studies done by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

If, then, Collin County’s largest ISDs follow a strict abstinence-only sexuality health program, what are students learning? According to the research done by TFN, Texas students are victims of the abstinence-only “conspiracy of silence.” In the series that follows, you will see that Collin County is as silent as the rest of Texas on the topic of sexual health.

While our series will focus on ISDs in Allen, McKinney, Plano and Frisco, Collin County contains many other smaller school districts. School districts that reside exclusively in Collin County includes:

• Allen ISD
• Anna ISD
• Blue ridge ISD
• Celina ISD
• Community ISD
• Farmersville ISD
• Frisco ISD
• Lovejoy ISD
• Mckinney ISD
• Melissa ISD
• Plano ISD
• Princeton ISD
• Prosper ISD
• Wylie ISD

School districts that are shared between Collin County and other counties include portions of:

• Bland ISD
• Gunter ISD
• Leonard ISD
• Royse city ISD
• Trenton ISD
• Van alstyne ISD
• Whitewright ISD

What do the schools in your school district teach?

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Related Postings:

• Obama's 2010 Budget Eliminates Federal Funding For Abstinence-Only Sex Ed
• Help Teens Get Accurate Health Information
• Planned Parenthood of North Texas: Lobbying for Women's and Teens' Reproductive Health

Additional Reading:

• Teen Birth Rate Rises in U.S., Reversing a 14-Year Decline
• Premarital Abstinence Pledges Ineffective, Study Finds
• Many Teens Don't Keep Virginity Pledges

The Texas Democratic Women of Collin Co. Will Host Guest Speaker Kathy Miller, Pres. Texas Freedom Network Education Fund, At The Group's Meeting On Monday, July 27, 2009. Ms. Miller will talk about the Education Fund's year-long study on sexuality health education in Texas public schools. See the "Calendar Box" in the left sidebar of this blog for more details.