Lucille Sellers remembers when Loudoun teachers were first required to start teaching sex education in the public schools. The year was 1989, and her phone wouldn't stop ringing.
"When we originally started the program in the classroom, it was non-stop," she recalled. "Now if I get four or five calls a year, that's the extent of it."
Sellers was co-facilitator of the Loudoun County committee that developed the Family Life Education curriculum, which includes sex education. She is retiring this year after 33 years in the school system. She started out as a home economics teacher and leaves as supervisor of Career, Technical and Adult Education.
Harry Bibb, who was deputy superintendent of instruction before his retirement six years ago, worked with Sellers as the other facilitator. "I think if it hadn't been for Lucille's leadership and her style of working with parents, we would have had a really difficult time of implementing a family life program at that time," he said. "There was a great deal of apprehension."
Bibb said the committee had the challenge of developing a curriculum that addressed the concerns of those who objected to having sex education taught in the schools and those who strongly favored it. It could not have happened without Sellers' patience and leadership skills, he said. "She made the difference."
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Edgar Hatrick said the state mandate stirred a lot of controversy. Emotions ran high at the public hearings. Seller eventually got the community to buy into the program, he said.
The committee consisted of clergy, parents for and against sex education, community leaders, educators and medical professionals. Bibb credited Sellers and a group of teachers with actually writing the curriculum.
Sellers said the committee modified the state's guidelines, stressing abstinence while providing information about contraception. "We do talk about contraception, but we do it within the context of marriage," she said.
FAMILY LIFE Education is taught from kindergarten through 10th grade. Kindergarten through third grade students learn about family responsibilities and resources and child sexual abuse. In fourth grade, the topics are expanded to include puberty. Middle school students learn about friendship, dating, sexual harassment, decision-making, sexually transmitted diseases and contraception. High School students learn more about contraception and sexually transmitted diseases, date rape, date abuse, parenting and community resources.
The curriculum, however, does not consist only of sex education. It also covers parenting, marriage and families issues and other topics.
Sellers said the success of the class speaks for itself: Loudoun's teen pregnancies are on the decline.
Other results include young men and women seeking medical help after learning to do self-exams. Teenagers also have removed themselves from abusive relationship.
The schools provide a preview of the curriculum, audiovisuals and handbooks with activities and information to bridge the communication between parents and their children.
Sellers was part of the team that revised the curriculum when Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) became pandemic. Teachers first taught students about AIDS in science class, then health, and finally in Family Life Education. "You can't talk about human sexuality without talking about AIDS," she said. "It's too important."
Sellers said she thinks she has made a difference. "It was a subject that really needs to be talked about," she said. "We're not here to preach. It's up to the parents to teach the morals of their families and their expectations."
BEFORE FAMILY LIFE Education, Loudoun provided a 5th grade program addressing child sexual abuse. Sellers wrote the curriculum, which was adopted with revisions.
She also founded a teacher cadette program, encouraging students to pursue a career in teaching. She assisted with the start of a vocational assessment center for handicapped and disadvantage students. The academic and vocational skills of about 100 students are evaluated every year to match skills with occupations.
Sellers designed the family and consumer science labs in the new middle and high schools. And she was a founding member of Leadership Loudoun, which encourages adults to learn more about their county to become better leaders.
She received the local supervisor's award from the Virginia Association of Family and Consumer Science Teachers.
Shirley Bazdar, director of Career, Technical & Adult Education, said Sellers pioneered many efforts in the family and consumer sciences curriculum, which used to be home economics. "Lucille always had a passion for career and technology education and that has bled into everything she does," Bazdar said. "A lot of Northern Virginia schools call her all the time. They say, 'Can we come visit? Can we look at what you are doing?'"
Bazdar said Seller's retirement is a huge loss. "We can fill the vacant spot, but we can never replace her."
Sellers said she especially will miss Loudoun's 40,000 students. "Those are my children," she said. "You better believe I am going to miss them."