After hearing that Shenendehowa High School received a public relations award for the work of its Health Advisory Council, I decided to share my experience of the flawed process that determined the course of sex education at Shen. I served on the council as a member of Shen Parents Choice Coalition.
The council was given the directives to examine Shen's comprehensive sex education curriculum and to consider alternatives. These directives were not met.
The process, designed by Shen administration to rubber-stamp the current curriculum, was so controlled that only health teachers were permitted to address the council. Since those teachers had crafted the curriculum, the school's curriculum was never critically reviewed. When I attempted to address my coalition's concerns, including inaccuracies that put students' health at risk, four council members shouted me down. Meeting minutes omitted this disgraceful incident.
Alternatives to Shen's curriculum were never objectively considered. Multiple requests for sexual risk avoidance education experts to address the council were denied. Instead, at the meeting to consider alternatives, health teachers gave presentations purposefully discrediting sexual risk avidance curricula.
Research supporting such education was not presented to the council, including 23 independently evaluated, peer-reviewed programs shown to be effective in reducing teen sexual behavior; these are collected in "Abstinence Works 2013," a publication by the National Abstinence Education Foundation.
The outcome was validation of the curriculum, no medical professional oversight of curriculum accuracy, an open door to Planned Parenthood and an award for "image management." Beyond the smoke and mirrors, the council squandered the opportunity to honestly evaluate what is best for students.
Maureen Silfer
Mechanicville