The Chehalis School Board conducted its regular meeting Tuesday evening, where a few parents voiced concerns over a new bill that could require comprehensive sexual education in all Washington public schools.
While sexual health education is largely a local decision right now, a new bill could require school districts to implement comprehensive sexual education as an “integral part of the curriculum.”
Under current state law, Washington public schools have the option to teach sexual education. SB 5395 would require all public schools in Washington to provide comprehensive sexual education by September 2020.
At the Chehalis School Board’s regular meeting Tuesday evening, two Chehalis parents voiced concerns over new sexual education legislation that would be more comprehensive and emphasize “the importance of affirmative consent.”
“We are all for having accurate information, but when it is going to broaden in scope, we really do want to make sure we are aware of what is happening, that all parents are,” said Chehalis School District parent Brian Mittge.
The bill was read for the first time on Jan. 18, then referred to the Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee. There was a hearing for the bill on Feb. 13. Mittge asked the Chehalis School Board what type of parental involvement the board would have if there were requirements in “what is now an optional type of curriculum.”
Chehalis School District Superintendent Ed Rothlin said any curriculum review the school district does will give parents an opportunity to be engaged.
“Of course, this (subject) will attract more parents,” Rothlin said. “We usually don’t get a lot of interest when we’re doing some of our other adoptions, but we are keeping our eye on it. Unfortunately, I can’t say that all the schools agree with the Chehalis School District. There are a lot of opinions in Olympia, so we will keep a watch on it.”
Superintendents from the Centralia, Napavine and Mossyrock school districts did not respond to interview requests Wednesday afternoon about what the districts currently provide for sexual education. Winlock School District Superintendent Richard Serns wrote in an email that he had not heard of the bill yet, and has not heard from parents about the bill.
“We don’t use any sex education curriculum,” Serns wrote in an email. “The only thing that we do is the counselor and the principal talk with the 5th grades students (boys and girls separate), and there are of course the basic health and biology courses at the middle school and high school. We just started meeting with some school and community leaders regarding educating middle school and high school students about the dangers of sexting and other risky social media practices. We have had excellent presentations from the sheriff’s department and others regarding that for assemblies. That isn’t sex education per se but it is an important related topic.”
The new legislation would mandate more comprehensive sexual education, require “affirmative consent curriculum” and that school districts use a curriculum that the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction has approved. Parents would still be allowed to opt their children out of the sexual health education.
According to the bill, the instruction must include information that, “Encourages healthy relationships that are based on mutual respect and affection and are free from violence, coercion, and intimidation” as well as “Teaches how to identify and respond to attitudes and behaviors that contribute to sexual violence” and “Emphasizes the importance of affirmative consent, meaning conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity, as a requirement before sexual activity.”
Onalaska School District Superintendent Jeff Davis said the district already covers topics presented in the bill.
“Other than making it more mandatory, I don’t see a lot of things that are different from what we are doing now,” Davis said. “We teach a lot of behavior kinds of issue through character education each month.”
Davis said he believes school districts and families have a responsibility to have age-appropriate conversations with students, including discussing consent with high school students.
“I think it is important that we make children aware at the appropriate ages about being healthy,” Davis said. “That’s a huge umbrella about what that means.”
