NEW SEX ED. BILL WON'T CHANGE MUCH
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 -- 11:32 AM
A controversial law signed last week by Gov. Jim Doyle should have a minimal impact on how sex education is taught in local districts.That doesn?t mean districts like local curriculum decisions being dictated by the state legislature.
The bill requires schools that teach sex ed to include information about how to use condoms and other forms of birth control and describe their benefits and side effects. They will also have to tell students how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases.
No abstinence-only courses will be allowed.
It turns out Neillsville, Granton and Loyal all have similar approaches to sex education.
Students learn some basic reproductive science in junior high and get a more traditional ?sex ed? curriculum their freshman year. The curriculum is formed with the help of local committees.
Neillsville Superintendent John Gaier says the curriculum represents community values, and has an ?abstinence-first? slant. Representatives from the County Health Department attend classes to teach about birth control and STDs.
Under the new law, parents will be able to remove their children from sex ed classes, as they can now. Schools will be able to decide not to have a sex education program, but they would have to notify parents of that decision.
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