Officials of a public school district in the U.S. state of Nebraska met with parents on Monday night to discuss the proposed changes in the sexual education curriculum in the district's schools, which has stayed the same for 30 years.
The Omaha Public Schools (OPS) board held a public meeting with parents on Monday night, KETV reported
Many parents are opposing the proposed changes in Omaha Public Schools (OPS), which would add information about LGBT, STDs, HIV/AIDS, abstinence and contraception, according to OPS Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum Instruction and Assessment Dr. ReNae Kehrberg.
Maris Bentley of the Save Nebraska Children said, "When you look at the history of comprehensive sex education, it comes straight out of a mentality of sexual freedom."
The organisation's paid ads were displayed on a mobile digital billboard before Monday's meeting.
She said as a former teacher and school counsellor in central Nebraska, she is concerned about how children are really taking in what's being taught.
"It's not appropriate for children and it's really ideologically driven," she said.
One parent said, "Yes we need to give children an education. But the curriculum you have, the standards you have, gives children too much information. It rapes children of their innocence."
Another parent said providing students the information is like giving them alcoholism.
"Just because kids want to drink, do you give them a bottle of alcohol to help with alcoholism? You all need to stop with all this hidden agenda stuff," she said.
In a video, according to Raw Story, one woman is caught screaming, "It's my daughter! My daughter! Who's going to keep her pure? Nobody! I am! Not OPS! Not OPS!"
Kehrberg said abstinence will always be the backbone of sex education for the district, adding that classes will continue to include education on protection, sexual harassment and abuse, and it's up to the board to include abortion and emergency contraception.
"Not every parent is going to know what to talk about, so it's up to the school district to make sure that if a parent doesn't feel safe enough to educate their kid about sex ed, they have an opportunity to opt their kid into this subject or opt their kid out," OPS board member Marque Snow said.
OPS is proposing the addition of topics such as gender identity, biological sex and sexual orientation as well as reproductive prevention such as condoms, birth control and abortion.
The school board will have a final say on the matter but stressed that the new curriculum will not include Planned Parenthood.
It added that the new curriculum will be published on the district website for parents to see. The board will have a final vote on Jan. 20 and changes will be implemented in the fall.
