So what's going on with sex ed in your child's school?
As National Family Sexuality Education Month approaches in October, parents are advised by school officials to be aware of what their kids are learning about sex education in school in addition to what they're taught at home.
In Belleville School District 118, Lynn Clapp, assistant superintendent for curriculum, said the schools' roles in providing sex education is to offer students information and invite parents to get involved in the process.
"What we try to do is present information in a fairly objective way that is going to give (students) knowledge to help them make good choices," Clapp said, adding parents are notified of the sex education curriculum and are welcome to preview the materials used to teach students. "The biggest thing that we talk to our teachers about is we're not here to preach, we're here to give information."
Reproduction and puberty are introduced to students in the fifth grade, and more in-depth information on topics like abstinence, birth control and contraception is incorporated in seventh and eighth grade for one quarter per year in health class. Topics like emotional growth and family life are incorporated as early as kindergarten, with an emphasis on hygiene in fourth grade, Clapp said.
When it comes to Catholic school students in the Belleville area, educators take a clear stance on sex and human sexuality.
"From a Catholic perspective, sexuality is seen as part of the human. Sexual activity, the genital act, is seen more as core to marriage," said Russell Peterson, the Belleville Diocese associate director of religious education. "The balancing that goes on is affirming the goodness of our sexuality while recognizing the appropriate limits -- and that's a tough balance."
Peterson said the diocese students typically start learning about sex in middle school, and then get into deeper topics in their high school health classes. Information at the elementary school level focuses more on defining healthy relationships, such as those with families and friends -- and promoting self-esteem in recognizing people are created by God.
The diocese has updated its curriculum in the last few years, Peterson said, incorporating an increase in chastity education and a shift away from the biological aspects of sex education, which are included in science courses.
Lynda Andre, Edwardsville School District 7 assistant superintendent of curriculum, said the district uses a science-based approach with an emphasis on disease prevention in its sex education curriculum.
The district introduces sex education in middle school but makes it a point not to interfere with what information parents might want to teach their kids at home.
"There's a lot of information that I think parents do want to take responsibility for, and we make that clear to teachers," Andre said. "It is a family responsibility, and we respect that."
Wood River-Hartford School District 15 Superintendent Mark Cappel said there should be a partnership between schools and parents in educating kids about sex.
The district's sex education curriculum is abstinence-based but also includes information about pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease prevention.
"We believe this is good information that students need to know, and I don't believe the program that we have crosses over into parents' responsibility," Cappel said. "We're not going to be naive in thinking that they aren't starting (to engage in sexual behaviors) younger and younger."
In February, two Lewis and Clark Junior High School eighth graders were suspended for protesting the school's abstinence-only sex education curriculum by wearing tank tops with condoms and the words "Safe Sex or No Sex" written on them.
Since then, Cappel said a new, six-week sex education program, which district officials were already working on bringing to schools when the protest occurred, was implemented in the spring for eighth-graders and covers teen sexuality, positive dating behaviors, pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. He described it as an extension to the abstinence-only program that students participate in as sixth-graders, which includes a presentation from guest speakers two or three times a year.
He said all the eighth-graders' parents signed off on the program, including those of the two students who had protested earlier in the year.
"I think it was beneficial to all, and we plan on continuing it this year," Cappel said. Cahokia School District 187, students get sex education in seventh and eighth grade, and again as sophomores in high school.
Curriculum Director Debbie Tippett said the programs focus on teaching students to make good choices, emphasizing abstinence as the best choice.
"We try to teach them to make good choices but we do let them know what the choices are," Tippett said. "But we're not a school district that hands out condoms or anything."
She said the curriculum covers topics like reproduction, contraception and STDs.
The Illinois State Board of Education does not advise whether a district should offer sex education, and districts are not required to do so, according to board spokesman Matt Vanover.
"That is up to the local board to decide what is appropriate for their community," he said. "The school code essentially says if a school is going to teach sex education, that there are specific things that have to be included."
Among those requirements:
Parents must be allowed to see the materials and can refuse permission for their child to take the class. The child will not be penalized in any way.
The program must emphasize that abstinence is the expected norm and the only 100-percent effective method of preventing teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
The program must teach "honor and respect for monogamous, heterosexual marriage."
Sex education recently became a point of discussion in the presidential election after Republican John McCain's presidential campaign released a television ad that criticizes Democratic rival Barack Obama for supporting sex education even for kindergarteners.
The ad says Obama has a weak record on education and that his only accomplishment was legislation to teach sex education to kindergarteners.
But the legislation was not Obama's, it never became law and it would have required age-appropriate information in schools. Obama has said that means warning young children about sexual predators and explaining concepts like "good touch and bad touch."
Contact reporter Rickeena J. Richards at rrichards@bnd.com or 239-2562.
Reporter Elizabeth Donald contributed information to this report. To see more of the Belleville News-Democrat, Ill., or to subscribe, visit http://www.belleville.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Belleville News-Democrat, Ill. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2008, Belleville News-Democrat, Ill.