Only on 9: Parents Upset About Sex Ed Lesson

It's a touchy subject for any parent, SEX. Newschannel 9 found out some parents are finding out their kids got a graphic lesson about "sex" without their permission

It's state law in Texas that parents be given the opportunity to exclude their children from sex education at school.

Speaking for his parents Alan Gonzalez says his 13 year-old sister was appalled when she attended a sex ed presentation at Valley View Middle School.

"She said that they were showing them pictures of STD's, pictures of graphic, you know really the private regions, things like that," Gonzalez said.

According to Gonzalez his parents didn't sign a permission slip and had no knowledge the presentation was going to be given.

According to Texas law every school district is supposed to notify parents that sex education is going to be taught and the parent has the right to remove their student if they don't want them to attend.

For Robert Martinez he thought by not returning the permission slip he was declining permission and he expected his child to be pulled from the sex education lesson.

"She's young, barely 12 years-old, I think it should be done when you're 16, when your in high school," Martinez said.

A spokesperson for the Ysleta Independent School District sent us this statement:

"Yesterday at Valley View Middle School, the El Paso Department of Public Health conducted the first of six components of a sex health education class for seventh and eighth graders that offers abstinence-based, factual information for middle school students. This program is approved by the District's School Health Advisory Council (SHAC). Student permission slips were distributed to students the last week of school before winter break. There was a decision at the campus level to allow the introductory presentation to be made to all students. The follow-up components will only be given to those students who turned in their permission slips." --Pat Ayala

But parents like Robert Martinez don't agree with that decision.
Martinez thought by declining permission for his daughter to attend sex ed she would not be included in the lesson.

"If they are going to send you those forms, and they're still going to go ahead with it, then why are they sending those forms?" Martinez said.

We also heard from an anonymous teacher, who told us he/she was concerned about the lesson and said teachers weren't told ahead of time. They were later bombarded with questions from students, questions at least this one teacher wasn't prepared to answer.

According to students and teachers, the subject matter was very graphic and slides were used.

Newschannel 9 has not been able to see the actual presentation, but we've been told it included information about sexual violence, teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. There was also information on oral and anal sex.

Stay tuned to Newschannel 9 as we continue to investigate this story.

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SEX ED LAW.pdf [1]	33.92 KB
YSLETA STATEMENT.pdf [2]	11.42 KB