Shen sex-ed policy shift still a mystery [Can't answer simple questions about Planned Parenthood]

Albany TU ^ | January 11, 2012 | By DENNIS YUSKO

[Fitzy_888]

CLIFTON PARK — Those wondering why Shenendehowa schools recently discontinued sexual education lessons taught by Planned Parenthood left Tuesday's Board of Education meeting disappointed.

More than 200 people piled into the Gowana Middle School to speak or learn about the school district's decision to sever its longtime relationship with Planned Parenthood Mohawk Hudson.

Planned Parenthood educators had for two decades discussed abstinence, sexually transmitted diseases, teen pregnancy and other topics with district middle and high schoolers as part of its health education curriculum. But the district told Planned Parenthood in October to stop sending the guest speakers after it received complaints about the lesson plan from a couple of dozen parents.

Discuss this story in our Clifton Park blog.

Met by crowds on both side of the issue at Tuesday's Board of Education meeting, neither the superintendent nor board members provided information on who canceled the courses or why. That left some in the crowd confused.

"I came to get the facts, and I still don't have them," Debra Espey, the parent of two Shenendehowa students, said as she left the meeting.

District spokeswoman Kelly DeFeciani said Planned Parenthood's role had been put "on hold," but declined to answer additional questions. A Planned Parenthood employee said Tuesday that the district had terminated the partnership.

The issue elicited public comments from more than 10 people. The speakers broke into two camps. Half said the district had acted hastily and without community input, while the others said that Planned Parenthood educators encouraged sexual activity among young people and didn't offer abstinence as a healthy alternative.

After the board cut the meeting's initial comment period of about 45 minutes, Superintendent Oliver Robinson said the district would take another look at its decision. He said that he would reconvene a district Health Advisory Council in the coming weeks to review the district's health curriculum "to ensure that what we provide at Shenendehowa is something that every parent can be proud of." Committee members will report their findings to the superintendent and board.

Planned Parenthood teaches students in 46 schools in 12 counties. On Tuesday, Paul Drisgula, executive director of Planned Parenthood, told the Shenendehowa board that the organization wanted to return. "We want back in, and feel that if you focus on what students need, what parents want and what science says works, you will agree," he said to huge applause.

But the reception was also hearty for the opposite view.

Maureen Shifler, a district parent who recruited supporters through a bulletin at Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church, told the meeting that Planned Parenthood teachings undermined the values many parents instilled in their children. She said that Planned Parenthood instructors promoted condom use and taught that oral sex could be considered abstinence.

But Maureen Dahl, who graduated from Shenendehowa last year, said she found the Planned Parenthood discussions extremely informative. Kids are starting to look at sex at a very young age, and talking about it with informed instructors is educational and can reduce teen pregnancies, Dahl said.

The community educator for Planned Parenthood at Shen was Darren Cosgrove, who taught there for 10 years. All lessons were reviewed and requested by the district and its health teachers, he said.

"We talk a lot about sexual behaviors, but our focus is identifying the risks," he said.

Barry Kaufmann, a retired health educator, said the bigger issue was the way the district removed Planned Parenthood without a discussion with the entire community.

"If this isn't overturned, I will vote against the school budget," Clifton Park resident Herb Alfasso said.

"I am sorry about that. Dr. Oliver, you made a dumb decision for a very bad reason."

[Fitzy_888]

School can't answer simple questions about the curriculum, had ceded authority to an entirely unaccountable entity (an NGO) which is staffed by the unaccountable and uncredentialed.

[SaraJohnson]

Planned Parenthoood abets child rape. It’s a radical organization - culturally way out of touch with the way most parents raise their children.

If liberal parents want to have their kids sexually groomed by perverts who teach their children to perform gay sex in a detailed fashion, let them corrupt their own kids. Let the other kids grow up without adult sex abuse.