CCSD board endorses expansion of sex ed classes — VIDEO
The Clark County School District soon may teach middle and high school students more about sexual orientation and gender identity, despite the wishes of many parents.
Angry and concerned parents, including some who drove from as far away as Mesquite, packed a Thursday meeting of the Clark County School Board at the Las Vegas Academy to oppose expansion of the district's existing, abstinence-based sex education curriculum.
Opponents contended the change would deprive them of the "right and privilege as parents" to control whether to introduce their children to sensitive information about homosexuality, transgender individuals and more.
Board members, however, unanimously voted to direct Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky and his administration to start reviewing proposed curriculum that includes topics about sexual orientation, gender identity and gender stereotypes.
District F Trustee Carolyn Edwards stressed that no change in curriculum will appear in any classroom until the board reviews and approves it at a later date
Edwards also countered arguments from parents that their opinion should matter more than those of others in the community.
"Every voting person in this county is a constituent, whether you're a parent or not," she said.
"My children are not in school anymore (but) that doesn't mean my opinion doesn't matter," Edwards added. "Nor should it mean that someone else's opinion doesn't matter just because they don't have a student in the district."
Trustees also directed school administrators to research the creation of a tiered approach to sex education that would let parents choose from a wider "menu" of courses their children could access.
"Option A — what I call 'sex ed lite' — may be the choice for the majority in (one) community, and Option B may be the choice now where you get 'the Full Monty,'" said District B Trustee Chris Garvey, referring to British slang for holding nothing back.
The meeting Thursday followed a similar forum in late September, when trustees spent nearly six hours hearing from parents who overwhelmingly asked them not to change a policy over which the School Board has no control.
The existing opt-in policy — a state mandate from the Legislature — requires parental consent before any public school student participates in sex education.
School boards can only lobby state lawmakers to change that policy to an opt-out approach that automatically enrolls students in sex education courses unless parents say otherwise.
The school board effectively rejected making any changes to sex education in fifth-grade classes. Items for consideration at that level included how to obtain safe methods of contraception and discussion of statutory rape, sexually transmitted infections and more.
Joey Goodrich, a 21-year-old College of Southern Nevada student and graduate of CCSD, said he could understand why parents might have found such language objectionable.
He also hoped the community could develop a more inclusive sex education curriculum, especially at the fifth-grade level.
"People think that giving students information about sexual orientation or gender identity is trying to brainwash or indoctrinate them," Goodrich said.
"It's giving them the right information to be equipped in the real world," he added. "We want to make sure all students feel safe and included and valued..."
Contact Neal Morton at nmorton@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279. Find him on Twitter: @nealtmorton.
