Washington schools don't have to teach sex education. That could soon change
Battle Ground Public Schools set out in 2018 to establish a high school sexual health education program that would be inclusive of all its students. Instead, the district ended up alienating parents on both sides of the political spectrum.
As The Columbian first reported, the Battle Ground School Board in October rejected a proposed comprehensive sex education curriculum meant to appeal to varying value systems in the conservative Clark County town.
A summary of community input on the curriculum states that parents “on both sides of the conservative-versus-liberal spectrum” expressed concerns that the curriculum would “work against [the district’s] goal of being inclusive to all students.” In particular, community members worried about how the coursework would impact LGBTQ students and those with faith-based values.
Battle Ground in October also scrapped a district policy obligating schools to teach the subject, apart from a fifth-grade human growth and development course and the state’s baseline requirement of teaching HIV prevention.
Additionally, the school board voted on Monday to allow sexual health education topics to appear in elective high school courses. But Battle Ground remains one of several school districts in the state without an official sex education program exceeding minimum state requirements.
https://crosscut.com/2019/12/washington-schools-dont-have-teach-sex-education-could-soon-change
