Sexual abstinence speakers canceled (by NJ Teacher Union)

TRENTON - The state teachers' union has canceled three sex education workshops scheduled for its annual conference after learning that the presenters favor the teaching of abstinence in schools.

Karen Joseph, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Education Association, said the decision was made because those beliefs conflict with the union's policy against abstinence-only sex education. The scheduled presenters were an educator and two doctors.

"When we realized their views were contrary to our policy, we felt we had to uninvite them," Joseph said. The three-day conference will be held Nov. 7-9 in Atlantic City.

The canceled sessions will be replaced by two workshops led by staff members of the Network for Family Life Education at Rutgers University. The group trains teachers in comprehensive sex education, which includes information on abstinence and contraception.

Bernadette Vissani, the director of the New Jersey Coalition for Abstinence Education, who was scheduled to lead one of the canceled workshops, said the decision was nothing more than censorship. She urged union members to protest the leadership's change in plans.

While Vissani said she and the other speakers personally believe in abstinence until marriage, she said the workshops would have presented tips for remaining abstinent as well as explaining the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases.

"We are considered experts in the field of abstinence education, and I think we have something to say," she said.

The other speakers would have been Joanna Mohn, a Lebanon internist and member of the New Jersey Physicians Resource Council, and James Thompson of Montclair, a retired physician and a member of the New Jersey Advisory Council on Adolescent Pregnancy.

New Jersey lawmakers approved a law last year that requires teachers to stress that abstinence from sexual activity is the only completely reliable means of avoiding pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, or other sexually transmitted diseases. It also mandates that any mention of contraception must include failure rates.

Dear Friends of Abstinence Education/Interested Parties:

I don't know whether you've seen any of the press coverage on the issue that has arisen with us (NJ Coalition for Abstinence Education of the NJ Family Policy Council) and the NJ Education Association (NJEA). Below are several background pieces to give you as quickly as possibly an overview of how we see it.

To summarize:
--Unless we adults recognize that teenage sexual activity is very high risk, it will never be taught within the right context in sex ed classes.
--If we don't stress abstinence, then we don't talk about the benefits of waiting, we don't emphasize its high risk and we don't really encourage students to make the healthy, but more difficult, choice.
--Abstinence education is NOT just saying "No."
--Stressing abstinence is NOT mere lip service.
--Critics of abstinence education unfairly represent it as "abstinence-only."
Good abstinence education does include information on contraceptives, but it will NOT give students a false sense of security.
--Given the law that requires the stressing of abstinence in public school sex ed classes, and the Core Curriculum Content Standards in Health and Physical Education that underscore the need for prevention, it is short-sighted of the NJEA to limit its convention workshops to the presentation of so-called "comprehensive sex ed." This approach does not get the job done because it spends the majority of teaching time enabling the very activity that is acknowledged to be high risk.
--Rank and file teachers deserve to hear a solid presentation on abstinence education and how to stress it in the classroom. Where's academic freedom and professional accountability?
--NJEA's stated position serves neither the intent nor the implementation of the law.
--Instead of censoring abstinence education, teachers should be working overtime trying to find appealing ways to stress abstinence in the classroom.

--Here's a question for those that stil think "comprehensive sex ed" is preferable: Part of our message in sex ed should be that just because students have been sexually active once does not mean they have to continue. What do students in this position find in "comprehensive sex ed" class to help them choose the healthier option?
--The fact of the matter is that "comprehensive sex ed" is far from truly comprehensive. It doesn't deliver what should be the basics, and what it does deliver just keeps kids sexually active, falsely thinking they are
"protected."

I urge you to think through this, voice your opinion as you see fit, and stay in touch if we can be of any help to you.

Regards,
Bernadette Vissani
Director, NJCAE

____________________________________________________________

“NJEA BIAS AGAINST ABSTINENCE EDUCATOR DEFIES NEW JERSEY LAW”

Len Deo, President and Executive Director of the NJ Family Policy, is deeply concerned about the abrupt cancellation of a workshop that was scheduled for the November 7-9 annual convention of the NJ Education Association in Atlantic City. The workshop, titled “Teaching Sexual Abstinence: Honoring the Law, Complying with the Standards,” was cancelled without even a request for clarification of the intended content.

Bernadette Vissani, M.P.H. was planning to provide practical help for teachers faced with a mandate from both our State Legislature (Public Law 2001, Chapter 303) and our State Department of Education (Core Curriculum Content Standards). That mandate is that students must be taught the physical, social, and emotional benefits of sexual abstinence and strategies to help them choose this lifestyle. The law actually states that public school sex education classes must stress abstinence.

“Rank and file teachers deserve to hear a solid presentation on why abstinence should be stressed and how to do that in the classroom,” stated Deo. “The NJEA leadership obviously thinks otherwise. And for that they serve neither the intent nor the implementation of the law.”
NJEA leadership cancelled the workshop because they oppose stressing abstinence, a position they made very clear during public testimony before the legislature on the proposed law. They and other proponents of comprehensive sex education make three false claims:

l) Comprehensive sex education is superior because it teaches both abstinence and contraceptive information. FACT: In a comprehensive curriculum there is time only for lip service to abstinence. Teaching time is primarily devoted to information that enables and supports the high-risk activity of

Press Release, NJ Family Policy Council, October 16, 2002
teenage sex. Furthermore, it assumes that students will probably not accept the abstinence message, a false assumption because more than half of today’s teenagers are virgins.

2) Abstinence education is inferior because it universally excludes any mention of contra-ception. FACT: Good abstinence educators do provide students with information on contraception so they can make an informed decision about sexual activity. Don’t students deserve full disclosure rather than a false sense of security?

3) Students can be protected significantly from the consequences of teenage sexual activity.

FACT: Against everyone’s hopes, condoms do not protect against most sexually transmitted diseases. Their failure rate for pregnancy is over 15%. How can we honestly discuss “safe sex” or how sex is natural and healthy when teens suffer so many negative outcomes?

The issues facing teachers who teach sex education are serious. Wouldn’t the NJEA serve its membership better by allowing free speech rather than bias into its convention? And why does the NJEA think it can ignore the law?

____________________________________________________________

New Jersey Family Policy Council
40 Baldwin Road, Parsippany NJ 07054
973-263-5258 October 15, 2002

TEACHER ALERT!

**Topic of Teaching Sexual Abstinence Eliminated from NJEA Convention**

**Workshops on Medical Issues of Teenage Sexual Activity Also Removed**

We thought you might be interested in a recent development regarding professional teachers and the abstinence message in our state. The NJEA had previously approved three workshops for its November 7-9 Annual Convention in Atlantic City that deal with the issues of teenage sexual activity. Their descriptions follow.

Could This Be a Disease of a Lifetime?

James Thompson, M.D.

Sexually active teens are exposed to risks of pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and their complications. Etiology, patho-physiology, and the potential long-term effects of STDs will be discussed.

Sex and Teens--Sexual Activity Has a Price Tag! Joanna Mohn, M.D.

Teach to the standards. Leave prepared to give your teens the most current medical information on teen sexual health.

Teaching Sexual Abstinence: Honoring the Law, Complying with the Standards
Bernadette Vissani, M.P.H.

How do we stress abstinence, as required by law, and still teach all that is mandated by the State's Core Curriculum Content Standards for health and physical education? It can be done!

All three of these workshops were officially approved by the NJEA Convention Coordinator and are, in fact, listed in the official convention program that has already been mailed to NJEA members with time and location listings. However, during the first week of October, all three speakers were notified by the NJEA in writing that it would “not be able to use [their] services” at the convention.

In a follow-up phone call to Judy Basa, I was told that a total of three workshops had been cancelled and that this decision was made due to space limitations and “other considerations.”

FACT: Stressing abstinence in the classroom has been mandated by law in New Jersey (Public Law
2001, Chapter 303).

FACT: Core Curriculum Content Standards for Health and Physical Education emphasize a full under-standing of the health risks of teenage sexual activity and require that the benefits of abstinence be taught.

FACT: Of the 250 workshops offered at the NJEA Convention, these three workshops were the only ones dealing with the issues of teenage sexual activity.

FACT: Since they have been cancelled, no workshop covering these issues is available at the convention.

QUESTION: Does it make sense to you that three workshops handling these critical issues, and providing material helpful to teachers required to teach on these issues, would be summarily removed from the convention program?

If it does not make sense to you, I urge you to make your voice heard. Contact information for the Convention Coordinator is provided below. It would be extremely helpful to know of any action you might take and, if as a result, there is a response that you can share.

Thank You,
Bernadette Vissani, M.P.H.
Youth Culture Coordinator
Contact:
Judy Basa, NJEA Convention Coordinator
180 West State Street, Trenton NJ 08607
Tel: 609-599-4561 Fax: 609-599-1201 www.njea.org

____________________________________________________________

New Jersey Family Policy Council
40 Baldwin Road, Parsippany NJ 07054
973-263-5258 October 16, 2002

UPDATE #1 - TEACHER ALERT!

This is a follow-up to the Teacher Alert dated October 15, 2002. We want to inform you of developments since that was written.

Late Tuesday, October 16th, we became aware that the NJEA leadership had in fact found space at the convention to provide some workshops on the issues of teenage sexual activity and abstinence. But, rather than invite us back, they have scheduled speakers from Network for Family Life Education at Rutgers. We found this out from Peggy O’Crowley, a reporter at the Star Ledger, who has written an article on it in today’s paper (“Educators convention drops sex-ed workshops”).

Here is some further information for you to consider:

Peggy O’Crowley’s article states that the NJEA canceled our workshops because all three presenters believe that abstinence is the only form of sex education that should be taught in schools.

POINT: Our cancelled workshop “Teaching Sexual Abstinence: Honoring the Law, Complying with the Standards” could hardly be considered an attempt to overthrow the educational establishment and speak against comprehensive sex education. We intended to teach to our title-neither the law nor the standards eliminate information on contraceptives. Of course, we do want the truth about contraceptives taught within sex ed classes, and that’s what stressing abstinence does.

The Network for Family Life Education at Rutgers is hardly an unbiased observer in the controversy over abstinence education in public schools.

POINT: Susan Wilson, Executive Coordinator, spoke adamantly against passage of the “Stress Abstinence” Bill which later became law. In an article entitled, “Stressing Abstinence Won’t Protect Teens,” published in the Asbury Park Press on June 26, 2002, Wilson unfairly portrayed the law as overriding the Core Curriculum Content Standards. In fact, the law is meant to protect the spirit of the Standards that aim at prevention of preventable health problems and teaching the truth.

POINT: Wilson also wrote that contraception is an “extremely effective weapon against disease and unintended pregnancy.” Stressing abstinence ensures that students are told the truth about the level of protection they can expect from contraception. And the truth is that condoms are far from extremely effective against STDs and pregnancy; and oral contraceptives, while very effective against pregnancy, provide no protection against disease.

POINT: In their effort to promote “comprehensive sex education” they misrepresent what good abstinence education accomplishes.

The other two cancelled workshops by physicians were to provide updated medical information that school nurses and health educators need if they are to teach intelligently about teenage sexual activity that, in fact, has produced an epidemic of disease.

POINT: It does not serve intellectual honesty or freedom to eliminate these professionals from the convention that has as its stated mission to “Light the Future.”

http://www.njfpc.org

Now you know why we need a Voucher Program in EVERY State. These teachers are all left-wingers who want to inculcate the kids with their perverse and secular humanistic ideas.

HERITAGE MEMBERS INTERACTIVE ----- http://www.heritage.org/
* Freedom * Opportunity * Prosperity * Civil Society *

As I'm sure you know, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Cleveland's school-voucher program in June (see this Heritage WebMemo exclusive for more information - http://www.heritage.org/Research/Education/WM122.cfm). The main question was whether the Constitution allows parents to use tax-funded vouchers to send their kids to religious schools. The Court said yes, that so long as parents choose the schools, government remains neutral regarding religion.

Fasten your seatbelt, because through that ruling, five justices unleashed forces that could fundamentally transform one of the most important and most beleaguered institutions in America: our public schools. Whether and in what manner that comes to pass depends on what we do-and by "we" I mean all who cherish freedom, responsibility, and the education that freedom and responsibility require. This is an opportunity of a lifetime, and we're going to need clearly defined strategies to succeed. Toward that end, Heritage is planning one of the most ambitious projects in our 30-year history.

But before I tell you about our plans, I'd like to discuss why I think the cause of school choice deserves an extraordinary commitment by conservatives. The Cleveland decision opened the way for a dramatic struggle, and I mean "dramatic" literally. This is a conflict between three forces you find in most great dramas, both real and fictional: victims, villains and heroes. How well we understand those forces will determine the strength of our commitment.

Victims

For a moment, put yourself in the shoes of Roberta Kitchen, a mother in Cleveland. "My daughter couldn't read," Ms. Kitchen said a few years ago. "She was in the sixth grade. I had been back and forth with her since the fourth grade. I noticed as I tried to help her with her homework that she couldn't read. But she was getting B's and C's on her report card. I asked the school to hold her back because she wasn't ready to go on to the next grade. They said they "couldn't do it because she wasn't failing."

Think about that. A little girl of normal intelligence reaches sixth grade. She's receiving passing grades from all her teachers. And yet she cannot read. If adults had inflicted some cruelty upon her that left her limping on atrophied legs-if they had made her unable to walk normally, let alone run like other kids-that would be a fair physical parallel to how grievously the Cleveland public schools neglected that little girl's mind. The greater shame is that neither she nor Cleveland is a special case. Ms. Kitchen's daughter represents the norm among fourth-graders, nearly half of whom can't read at even a basic level. Hundreds of thousands of children are on a downhill course that, left uncorrected, will leave them unable as adults to do what you're doing right now: reading and understanding plain English. Those children are innocent victims. They are being systematically robbed of their best chance to achieve their God-given potential as human beings.

Villains

Thanks to a school voucher (and five members of the U.S. Supreme Court), Roberta Kitchen was given a choice that allowed her to rescue her daughter from ignorance and illiteracy. But other low-income parents in cities all over this country will never have that choice-not if Bob Chase, president of the National Education Association, has anything to say about it. "Vouchers are a divisive and expensive diversion from continuing progress," he griped after the Supreme Court ruling in June. "We will continue to fight for public schools and against vouchers."

Continuing progress? Continuing progress? For 30 years and more, the public-school monopoly has been vowing to improve performance. Over the past 30 years their average per-pupil funding has been doubled and their class sizes have been reduced by 25 percent in secondary grades and 30 percent in primary grades. Yet through all those years and despite a 100 percent increase in funding, standardized test scores have remained virtually flat. What do the teachers' unions propose to do about that now?

Bob Chase has an answer: "People don't want the false 'choice' of vouchers. People want high-quality public schools in every neighborhood. They want a caring teacher in every classroom, safe and orderly schools, and high standards.. To realize this dream, we will have to reduce class sizes. We will have to invest much more in teachers." Got that? For 30 years we've given the school monopoly more money and smaller classes. That didn't work, so let's try it again for another 30 years-and condemn another generation of children to ignorance and mediocrity.

When the chief representative of 3.7 million public school teachers belittles a child's rescue from illiteracy as a "false choice," let's not pretend we're engaged in a good-faith debate about the child's needs. When that representative characterizes 30 years of flat and declining achievement scores as "continuing progress," let's not flatter teachers' unions by assuming they have the best interests of children at heart. Let us identify them and respond to them for what they clearly are. They are villains, and the only appropriate response is to defeat them by breaking their monopoly.

Heroes

There are a great many heroes in this drama. Parents like Roberta Kitchen and the people who fought on her behalf are among them. So are the five members of the Supreme Court who upheld vouchers. They cleared away the largest legal obstacle, and the next round of legal battles has already begun in the states. Most state constitutions strictly prohibit tax money from going to religious institutions, even indirectly as in Cleveland's voucher program. But the Cleveland decision established a rule of law that could void all those prohibitions at a stroke. A variety of organizations litigate school-choice lawsuits, and of course we will work with them outside the courtroom. When one of their cases finally reaches the U.S. Supreme Court, Heritage will organize a moot court to prepare the lawyers, just as we did in the Cleveland case.

Those legal battles are likely to take several years. As they proceed, a great deal must be done in the area of policy to ensure an ultimate victory for choice, and Heritage will fill a crucial need in those efforts. The front-lines battles for school choice will be fought by thousands of individuals representing hundreds of organizations at the state and local levels. Most are relatively small groups. Many form loose associations to promote school choice, but the movement lacks a truly effective clearinghouse for building coalitions, generating research and sharing information. Heritage has a long history of serving as an honest broker in those three areas, so our first and over-arching strategy is to put Heritage's unique strengths in the service of the many organization on the front lines of school-choice efforts all over America.

We'll also attack obstacles at the federal level that are beyond the reach of local groups. For instance, the "No Child Left Behind" legislation recently enacted by Congress directs tens of billions of dollars toward children who are victimized by chronically failing schools. But the regulations that will control the distribution and use of those funds have yet to be written. Those rules will determine the extent to which federal funds expand or restrict parental choice. God, or the devil, will be in the details, and Heritage excels at sweating precisely such details. So our second major strategy is to make sure that federal rules favor parental choice. We're going to recruit and train a group of experienced and qualified people, and recommend them to the Department of Education to serve on grant-review panels. And, of course, Heritage experts will draft language for regulations and executive orders.

Another crucial need is for continuing research. Dozens of voucher programs are now operating around America, some funded by private philanthropists, others by taxes. The performance of these programs will figure largely in the case for (or against) school choice. Are they improving academic performance? Are they "draining money" from public schools as the teachers' unions claim? Are they "skimming off" the best students from public schools? Our Center for Data Analysis (CDA) can perform statistical analysis that the teachers' unions can only dream of. So our third major strategy is to provide research that gives parents and policy-makers the facts about school-choice programs now in operation, facts to correct the distortions that teachers' unions constantly disseminate.
(More on the Center for Data Analysis - http://www.heritage.org/About/Departments/cda.cfm)

There are other ways our technical strengths can fortify smaller organizations, and I'll give you an example. Our CDA is building a special database on family issues that will condense thousands of research findings and make them easily available to laymen on our Web site. Using the same architecture we designed for that tool, we can build a parallel database that puts school-choice research at the fingertips of individuals and reform groups nationwide. Heritage also owns education databases that aren't generally available to the public. We'll make these available to reform groups; and if they're short on technical experts, our CDA specialists will produce customized analyses for their state or locality. With this kind of technical support from Heritage, local reform groups will be able to show parents how their local schools are failing children, and how school choice can make a positive difference in their communities.

Those are some of the main strategies that will continue to put Heritage resources behind the battle for school choice. A full summary would run more than 10 pages, so I won't subject you to that. Instead, let me underscore two points that I think are most important.

In this dramatic triangle of victims, villains and heroes, we ought to keep the victims uppermost in mind. Never forget what is being done to them. On a personal level, hundreds of thousands of children are being intellectually starved and stunted during the most critical years of their development, deprived of what they need to grow into adults who are responsible, productive and happy. On a civic level, this is putting our nation's very future at risk. As James Madison warned, "A well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people."

During the 30 years that the union monopoly was building its protective bunkers with hundreds of billions of tax dollars, Heritage members were building an institution to restore the values that were being put at risk. Today we have the strengths and resources to take on that powerful monopoly and defeat it. Your generosity made that possible. But money alone could never have created those strengths. They are rooted in the dedication our members show to the ideals of freedom and responsibility.

There's a heroic dimension to that kind of dedication, and I hope you will recognize it. On behalf of everyone at Heritage, thank you-and stay the course!

Sincerely,
Edwin J. Feulner
President

The Heritage Foundation
Leadership for America

"The Heritage Foundation is committed to building an America where freedom, opportunity, prosperity and civil society flourish."

http://www.heritage.org/

Heritage Members Interactive is a publication for Heritage members. Heritage respects your right to privacy. If you wish to unsubscribe from this newsletter, simply reply to this message with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line. If you enjoy our newsletter and have friends or colleagues you think would enjoy it too, please forward it to them. If you received this message as a forward and would like to subscribe, email your request to membership@heritage.org. Visit our website at http://www.heritage.org/

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?level_3_id=7&page=5585358

McGreevey sweet-talks teachers
Friday, November 08, 2002

By KATHLEEN CARROLL
Herald News

ATLANTIC CITY - Gov. James E. McGreevey stopped by the country's largest teachers convention Thursday, vowing to include educators in policy decisions and improve working conditions.

"We need to be your partner," he said, noting that higher demands on students mean increased demands on teachers, too.

The governor's town-hall style meeting kicked off a two-day education festival at a brassy new convention center in the state's gambling capital. The annual convention for the New Jersey Education Association attracts about 55,000 members and gives nearly 1.4 million children a four-day weekend.

McGreevey, who delivered a 15-minute speech as his education commissioner, William Librera, looked on, outlined his strategies for improving the state's schools. Some of the suggestions echoed demands that the NJEA has made for years, such as including teachers in policy decisions and making sure that standardized tests correspond to the state's core curriculum. McGreevey also reiterated his plan to financially reward outstanding educators.

The crowd rewarded the governor with spirited applause when he touched on a generally overlooked struggle: As the only adult in the classroom day after day, teachers have little time to brainstorm together.

"We need to treat teachers as professionals," he said. "Other professionals confer with one another on a daily basis ... institutional, systemic change can end intellectual isolation."

Educators from all over the state asked tough questions after the talk, which the governor fielded in his favored "Phil Donohue" style: his jacket off and microphone in hand, the podium a distant memory. The conversation ranged from charter schools and the inclusion of special education students in regular classes to the security of the teachers' pension fund.

"Can you give us the money back that you took away this year?" asked a teacher from Atlantic County. McGreevey froze Trenton's annual contribution to public schools in July. He replied that the state's $6 billion budget deficit forced his hand.

A teacher from Red Bank reported that a local charter school was hurting her school financially and academically. Librera blamed the state's property tax-based funding mechanism, a complaint echoed by the governor.

"Long term, we need to provide for a more rational, equitable funding formula," McGreevey said.

"His answers were good if he walks the walk," said James Joyner, a longtime shop teacher at Eastside and John F. Kennedy high schools in Paterson and representative for the Paterson Education Association. "I wanted to hear about the economy. There are more demands - special education, bringing test scores up - without a funding increase. It's fine to hear we're in a shortfall, but what are we going to do about it? What's the plan? That's what we need to hear."

Mike Ryan, who runs the School-to-Career program at Bergen County Technical School, was worried by the governor's emphasis on computer technology. A Garfield native and a former auto mechanic, he's always told his students, "You can make a living with your hands and mind, not just your mind," he said.

The convention's professional development sessions - hundreds are offered during the convention - were jam-packed. Teachers are required to attend 100 hours of professional development courses every five years, and the menu of classes was fit for anyone's palate: peer mediation, multiple intelligences, adolescent gossip and school facilities planning.

More than 300 booths filled the cavernous convention hall, each with its own jar of penny candy and a souvenir tote bag. Colleges and universities that count on tuition dollars from teachers, whose salaries rise in step with the number of graduate credits earned, dominated the north end of the room.

Textbook companies, congratulatory-sticker makers and local cultural centers claiming that they make for perfect class trips filled the rest of the stalls.

Reach Kathleen Carroll at (973) 569-7135 or carroll@northjersey.com.

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