Sex ed back on Scappoose front burners

Middle school-level sex ed materials move through district

By Erica Ryberg

The South County Spotlight, Nov 11, 2009, Updated Nov 11, 2009 (2 Reader comments)

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Last month, the Scappoose School Board voted 4 to 2 to approve supplementary materials for teaching human sexuality to seventh and eighth graders.

The material, which fills in gaps in Glencoe health texts the district currently uses, complies with a state law that mandates a curriculum that emphasizes abstinence and includes instruction in safer sex practices.

“Our team looked at lots and lots of materials,” said Scappoose Superintendent Paul Peterson “They looked at different resources to put together what was missing from the Glencoe materials. They did that rather than have to pick up and go spend some money on off-the-shelf material.”

Though various turnkey curricula — many of which have studies to show they’ve proven their mettle in changing risky teen behavior — exist to fill the gaps, the district chose to use state-mandated guidelines to compile photocopied material.

The advantage, Peterson said, is that the material is hyper-suited for Scappoose, and freer of the bias that he said is often built into off-the-shelf material.

But local parent Lisa Maloney, who often speaks up on issues involving sex in Scappoose schools, has significant concerns about the materials, citing specifically the presentation of safer sex information.

She’s also worried about the way the district went about selecting the material, citing concerns about biased make up of the committee in charge of selection and whether the committee used the checklists intended to make sure the information was comprehensive and age appropriate.

“Since when is telling 7th and 8th graders how to put a condom on age appropriate?” she said. “I don’t think a balanced committee would have.”

Peterson said that the committee used the checklists as process worksheets and that the district hasn’t kept them on hand. And he disagreed with Maloney’s assessment of the safer sex components of the curriculum.

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