The Broward County School Board is awaiting state approval for its comprehensive sex education curriculum. NBC6’s Ari Odzer reports
Broward County Public Schools students may or may not receive reproductive health lessons this school year.
By state law, each school district must submit its curriculum for what’s commonly called sex education to the Florida Department of Education for approval. Broward sent its plan in September, but has not gotten approval yet, so some school board members are concerned that time is running out.
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WATCH HEREBoard member Dr. Allen Zeman brought it up at Tuesday’s school board meeting.
“If we do not get approval from the Department of Education, what is the plan B for Broward County to educate our students in comprehensive sex ed?” Zeman asked.
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“There is no plan B,” responded legislative affairs director John Sullivan.
“It’s ironic because if we have no plan B for comprehensive sex education, we’re not going to be teaching students about plan B’s or unwanted sex or about consent or about the illnesses and diseases that we know happen when people don’t get comprehensive sex education,” Zeman said after the meeting.
The district’s curriculum is comprehensive and designed to be age-appropriate, with basic information on puberty, reproductive health and disease prevention, and abstinence is encouraged.
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“We all advocate for that as the first choice of all teenagers, all young adults, abstinence is a great option and you should think hard about it, but there are many people who know that there are primal urges and people are gonna have sex and so for those people we want to make sure that they’re fully informed about the risks they’re taking and how to avoid those risks,” Zeman said.
Board chair Debbi Hixon said waiting for the state to weigh in has been a frustrating experience.
“I was a science teacher, sex education isn’t just about learning about sex, it’s about learning about your own body and being attuned to what’s going on so you know whether something’s appropriate, not appropriate, so it’s important for our youngest students all the way up to our high school students to understand what sex education means, it isn’t just about birth control and all that,” Hixon said.
There are sections in the curriculum on relationships, on saying no to sexual advances, and on the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases.
“So it’s so important because we have a very high rate of STDs, pregnancy, here in Broward County and we want to make sure that our students are properly educated and they can get the facts so they can prevent STDs, unwanted pregnancy, and that our kids are safe,” said board member Lori Alhadeff.
Sullivan told the board he’s expecting to hear from the state this week, hoping, he said, for approval. The district teaches the subject in May, so time is running short.
