Taffy Brandt wants to make sure no Arlington parents go through what she had to. Her daughter Autumn was a student at Yorktown High School in 1987 when she got AIDS from another student. She died 10 years later.
Now Brandt fears that some lessons in Arlington’s family life education curriculum could put other students at risk. “It’s a false message to send to students that condoms are safe,” she said.
Brandt was one of 13 speakers to address school board members in response to the board’s upcoming selection of textbooks for the health and physical education department. Board members looked at the books at their Thursday, April 24, meeting, and will vote to accept or reject the recommended books May 8.
Arlington schools have not updated their health textbooks since 1993. The board is reviewing textbooks for all levels of health classes, from kindergarten through 10th grade, and most material under consideration drew no public comment. Controversy centered on the ninth grade health curriculum, specifically on the text for the family life education unit, usually referred to as sex ed.
The book, “A Teen’s Guide to Sexuality,” published by Meeks/Heit, has come under fire from some, like Brandt, who say it presents graphic images and information that will encourage students to engage in risky sexual practices.
Lacey Fisher, a senior at Yorktown, called information in the book “inappropriate and unnecessary,” since under Virginia laws, ninth grade students are too young to have consenting sex anyway.
BUT ARGUMENTS like that don’t touch on the real issue. “Is tonight’s discussion really about textbook selection… or is it about the content in them?” asked Andrew Oatman, a representative of the Northern Virginia AIDS Ministry.
If it’s a question of content, he said, then the debate is moot. Arlington schools are required to teach the family life curriculum set forth by the state Board of Education. That curriculum emphasizes abstinence as the only completely safe sexual behavior, but requires lessons about contraception as well.
School board Chair Elaine Furlow agreed that much of Thursday’s debate focused on that curriculum rather than on the specifics of the textbook. “It is hard to divorce those two,” she said. “The textbook supports and helps to deliver the curriculum, so you can’t really draw a line to separate the two.”
Some discussion did focus on the textbooks themselves. Roxanne Stachowsi, a Yorktown junior, said the family life education course she sat through was “uninformative, inadequate and inconsistent,” while the textbook under consideration is “thorough, comprehensive and pertinent to today’s society.”
WHEN REVIEWING BOOKS to prepare a recommendation for the board, school officials considered the climate of today’s society as well.
Kathy Grove, assistant superintendent for Instruction, referred to a recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which showed that in Arlington, 12 percent of sixth-grade students, 19 percent of eighth-graders students, 32 percent of 10th-grade students and 52 percent of high school seniors grade twelve students are sexually active.
Debbie DeFranco, health and physical education supervisor for Arlington schools, pointed out that in an anonymous survey of ninth- and 10th-grade students, 90 percent said they wanted to learn about contraception in health class.
Officials recommended the controversial textbook because it contained a “strong abstinence message,” but also presented visual demonstrations for contraception, she said, as well as presenting consistent content that adheres to Virginia curriculum.
DeFranco said she didn’t think that graphic visuals of contraceptives would encourage students to become sexually active.
Board members welcome comments from citizens about the textbooks. On Monday Furlow said she had received only a few calls from parents, but said, “It’s encouraging that people continue to investigate and think.”