Cupertino Union hopes new sex education class passes muster with parents
Throughout this fall and winter, parents, teachers and administrators of the Cupertino Union School District have been meeting to discuss a sensitive topic: sexual education.
A series of more than two dozen events have drawn several hundred people as part of the district’s preparation for its new sexual health curriculum, “Positive Prevention Plus,” which will be taught to middle school students during a four-week window beginning on Jan. 22.
The district hopes it succeeded in bracing parents and caretakers for the new coursework through reviews of its content, parent information sessions covering the legal and educational rationale behind the content, and 90-minute workshops aimed at helping to prepare parents to hold difficult conversations and answer the tricky questions related to sex that are sure to arise.
The new curriculum has been adopted to meet state requirements for sexual education enacted in January 2016. The Healthy Youth Act expanded the range of topics that school districts in California are required to address to now include adolescent relationship abuse and sex trafficking. It also boosted existing requirements that content be “appropriate for students of all sexual orientations and genders,” according to an online explanation.
Positive Prevention Plus is the district’s second attempt to pass a new curriculum to meet the state requirements. The first attempt, a curriculum known as “Teen Talk,” drew public outcry in March with many parents saying its content was not age appropriate. Critics found graphics and some classroom activities too explicit, as well as the material’s discussion of oral, vaginal and anal sex. Following a meeting attended by more than 150 people, the curriculum was abandoned after the board declined to approve it.
Following the failed rollout of “Teen Talk,” the district consulted with parents and community members and decided to instead go with “Positive Prevention Plus,” which had previously been on the list of potential curricula identified by a district task force composed of teachers, parents and staff. This curriculum managed to pass board review in June.
“The layout is a little different and the delivery method is a little different, but the content is the same,” said Hans Barber, the district’s executive director of instruction.
What is different this time around is the district’s approach in communicating with parents. “Our previous model was that we were going to adopt the curriculum, and then we were going to do parent education after that. And it’s important to note that we’ve flipped that model,” Barber said.
“Let’s have a lot of education up front so parents can understand why the change is happening, and what specifically this change looks like, and then we’ll teach the curriculum,” he added.
The district is also carving out a role for parents in the coursework itself as students will be asked to review various topics with them as a part of their homework.
“We really want students to take these facts that they get at school and go home and ask their family about its values,” health educator Heidi Winig said during a presentation at one of the district’s information sessions. “In the schools, we’re not allowed to teach our values.”
The new curriculum will include lessons on sexual development, pregnancy, preventing sexually transmitted infections, media and peer pressure, and relationship abuse, according to materials on Positive Prevewntion Plus’ website.
Notifications are expected to be sent out at the beginning of January, giving parents several weeks to consider whether to opt out of some or all of the curriculum. Alternative health-related curriculum will be offered to those who do opt out.
Because of the controversy in spring, seventh graders were not given sexual education coursework last year, so this year’s eighth graders will also participate in the program.
The district plans to assess the pilot program through a combination of administrative reviews and a survey of students, teachers and parents following its completion. Results will be presented to the school board in April, which then will decide whether to continue using the curriculum for future terms.
If Positive Prevention Plus is selected, the district will pilot the fifth-grade curriculum in the 2018-2019 school year.