Sex Education Presenter Speaks To Newschannel 9
Newschannel 9 found more parents who didn't agree with the Valley View Middle School Administration's decision to show a Sex Ed presentation to "all" 7th and 8th graders.
Sue Beatty is in charge of health education for the City of El Paso her team presents sex ed to students in all districts and before they get on stage every student needs a signed permission slip.
"The parent reads it, and signs it if they want their child to participate," Beatty said. "If they don't want their child to participate, they they don't send it back to the school."
If parents don't return the signed forms it's supposed to be an automatic "no." But Newschannel 9 learned some students at Valley View Middle School attended a sex ed presentation even though they weren't supposed to.
Israel: "Did you know that some of the students who attended did not have permission slips?"
Beatty: "It was our understanding that every child that was there did have a permission slip to attend."
This incident has parents like Maria Soto concerned. Soto says she didn't give permission for her son to see the presentation. But the principal apparently ignored the rule and showed it to "all" 7 and 8th graders.
"They shouldn't be making a decision like that...unless we say it's ok...I see that as wrong...because I didn't sign anything," Soto said.
We also found out more about the approved Sex Ed curriculum. It includes a session for parents so they're informed about what their kids will be taught. But the parent meeting was scheduled two days after the assembly.
Israel : "As far as your five components go, to this curriculum, the parental portion is supposed to go first, before the assembly. was it backwards in this case?"
Beatty: "Preferably the parent session should go firs, yes. But we couldn't do it because of scheduling issues and we were asked to do it the other way around."
Newschannel 9 obtained a copy of the presentation. It's fashioned as a kind of "myth buster" way asking questions like "Is this statement true or false?" It covered sexual violence, teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Including the fact that STD's can be transmitted through anal sex and oral sex.
The Ysleta Independent School District released a statement answering some of our questions...and gave us a personal statement from Valley View's Principal, Carmen Crosse.
"Texas is the third-leading state for teenage pregnancies, and we believe that the Department of Health's sexual education program offers factual and beneficial information for our students. I offer my sincerest apologies to the parents and students who were offended by the program shown on Tuesday. I meant no harm, and protocol will be followed in the future."--Ms. Carmen Crosse, Valley View Middle School Principal.
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I applaude Principal Crosse for wanting to educate and inform her students. People have become so clueless to how much our children know about sex and how much they are actually doing. WAKE UP people!! Times have changed and we as parents and educators need to stop pretending that it hasn't. If it's not one child that is sexually active then it is someone that he/she is hanging out with. As a parent, I find it disturbing that my child would get information, the wrong information, from another child at school and lets face it, alot of parents aren't doing their job. Thank You Principal Crosse for caring about your students and having the courage to step up and educate them in a area where many parents have failed. It is sad that not all of your staff was able to stand behind you. Lastly, a suggestion to New Channel 9. A good reporter never jumps to air a story without investigating first. You really got our attention by saying how "controversial" the Sex ED class was but you didn't bother to find out what infromation was going to be given and if it was actually that controversial. You didn't stop to think about what position you would put this Principal in with you negligence. SHAME ON YOU!!!
vram
7 months agoI want to First start by saying that if the school did handle the information sheet improper shame on them; however the fact that our schools have to inform our children about the dangers of STD's then I say SHAME on us as parents.
I did a presentation on STD's which was required for me to get credit for a course I was currently taken at the time & this presentation was for Adults and even I told them that it contain material they some may find Offensive or if they have a weak stomach they may want to excuse themselves,but the information was very informative if not educational.
Don't get me wrong some things may be too offensive for some people and they may even view graphic scenes differently then others, but from my understanding only 9 showed up to view what was considered too be TOO GRAPHIC.Why??? If I disgreed then I would have been first in line to see what my child was exposed to.
I remember not too long ago in the news there were concerns that Teens were now just doing Oral Sex, because they did not believe anything was wrong with it. Well, had they seen what certain STD's can do to your mouth & the fact that some stay with you for life then maybe they would have gave a 2nd thought on what he/she was doing.
The Parents that were so Worried about what their children saw did not show up what does that say about them? Parents need to be open with their children, then maybe they would not be so quick to do some of the things that they may have or maybe thinking about doing? I do understand that some things are age appropriate, but as parents we need to be proactive instead of reactive.
The presentation that I did for my adult peers I showed to my children before I presented to my classmates. They were shocked, they ask questions I provided them with pamplets & their concerns & questions were addressed by showing them the material that I had received from Planned Parenthood. Times are very different and will continue to be different. Kids are curious and when they did things as a toddler we correct it and we explain why they could not do that; why not so the same as they continue to grow into young men and young women.
I am not only concerned about my children but the children they are associated with as well. Parenting begins at home we should'nt have to depend on others to do our job.
EJB14
6 months agoIt is the parent's right to be informed. This is the point - not the sex ed debate. There are policies in force for everyone to follow, not a select few.
lisar
6 months agoi think the sex education class is a good for the students because it helps us from getting a STD and helps from preventing a girl to get pregnant.
Potter
7 months agoMy daughter attended the sex education class and I never saw the permission slip. It doesn't bother me at all that she saw the presentation. All the information that was given was a very good example for our teenagers. It will teach them and alert them when making a wrong decision of having sexual intercourse at a young age. I do believe that everyone is making a big deal out of nothing. It is making the school look very bad and that school will have a bad reputation. There are a lot of teenagers that do things mothers do not approve of anyway and mothers sometimes do not do anything about it. The sex ed is not as bad as the things they do sometimes without concent. I think everyone should stop making such a big deal out of it all those students are teenagers and should be taught right from wrong.
valleyview
6 months agoAs a parent and a teacher who sees all to often the aftermath of not educating students in the middle schools, I applaud the principal of Valley View of being willing to schedule this presentation. There may have been ways to communicate better that could have been used, however, in a world where even a former President goes on TV and states that oral sex is "Not Really" sex and we have headlines screaming at us just this week in the El Paso Times that the rate of teen pregnancy is going back up, perhaps we should consider that no one wants to see their baby grow up, but they are going to anyway. I for one want my son to have all the facts, and there may be many out there that I just don't have. Who better to give this timely presentation than the County Health Dept.? Parents who think that their child is too young at the 7th or 8th grade for this information because they are not sexually active are hiding from reality. This is the age where they start experimenting. That is why we have so many freshman girls having babies. I want my son to go to a school where the administration is brave enough to give him the information he needs to keep himself alive to graduate from High School and College with a bright future in front of him. For those parents who are upset that their bady didn't need to know this, all I can say is "you have my sympathy and good luck". You may end up a grandparent long before you planned for it.
kinder
6 months agoThank you for your comment, because you are right. There are some people that do not want to see their kids grow up, but that is part of life and that is Reality.
I challenge my kids if they do not believe the information I am telling them is incorrect then do the research themselves. If they have a question that I cannot answer then we try to find the answer together.
If my husband and I die today, who would raise our children if there is no other family? It is scary that they may end up with a family that may want to shelter them from how the World really is.
Yes, it is scary to think that our kids are exposed to anything That We May Not Think They Are Ready For, But do we All know what our children are doing when we are not around us?
I would like to think that what we have taught them and the speeches we give each year when school starts they take it in consideration & will remember their actions do have consequences at some point.
A close friend of mine shared some personal information about her niece. Her niece at the time was 15 got pregnant did not tell anyone til it was too late, to make a long story short the young lady had to have a C-Section because it was revealed she had Genital Warts, Herpes as well as Clymadia. ( The Dr. that delivered the baby informed her that he had to report her to the Board of Health because her sexual partners needed to be checked if not informed)
She will always be reminded of her wild sexual behavior not to mention the baby is constantly sick, which she seems as if she could careless. The child did not ask to be born; it is the choice that the young girl made.
So, like you said if they think this particular information should not have been presented, Best Wishes and Good Luck!! Like the saying goes if you're from Missiouri, then you must Show Me!! Now a days that should go for each of us, because anything that is going to harm me I want to know how and in what way so I can share it with my family no matter how scary it is.
Each day my children when ask how school was today, they tell me things that shock me and they are addressed right then and there. Our children are around other children that are exposed to things that your children may not even know about, but because it sounds so foreign to them thank God the ones that want to know the truth ask and those that don't ask because of whatever reason we need to tell them to talk to someone, because what you don't know can harm you if not kill you.
EJB14
7 months agoPlease Login or Register to post comments