Plans to alter sex education in Clark County schools have been scrapped in the wake of protests by the community and several School Board members, who criticized the district for the secrecy in which curriculum changes were discussed.
“I am asking our community to forgive how we handled this situation,” wrote Clark County School District Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky in a letter to parents Friday.
Clark County School District Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky speaks during a news conference at district headquarters on Friday, July 18, 2014. (David Becker/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Skorkowsky acknowledged that his approach has “broken trust” with families and School Board members. He also vowed to throw out the guidelines for a comprehensive sex education curriculum, presented at invitation-only community meetings as a starting point for changing the district’s abstinence-based system.
“I have instructed my staff to move forward with this discussion in a way that is respectful, open and collaborative,” said Skorkowsky, adding, “I believe we can restore trust” with community support.
As a start, the documents for a broader sex education curriculum — presented in the district’s closed-door meetings — will be made public at tonight’s School Boards meeting.
The process for changing sex education in Clark County schools also will be restarted, beginning with public community input meetings in each of the district’s seven areas, district spokeswoman Kirsten Searer said Wednesday. The schedule and other details will be provided during the School Board meeting at 4 p.m. today at 2832 E. Flamingo Road.
The controversy began in mid-September when the district held a series of community input meetings over a week, only allowing those with invitations to attend. Media also were barred. At the meetings, the district presented a 77-page curriculum guideline created by the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States that, if instituted, would drastically change sex education in Clark County schools.
The changes under consideration would have made sex education in the nation’s fifth-largest school district a “comprehensive” sexuality model including education on lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual people, which breaks from the district’s long-used approach that relies heavily on the promotion of abstinence and only teaches about heterosexual relationships.
[…] The process for changing sex education in Clark County schools also will be restarted, beginning with public community input meetings in each of the district’s seven areas, district spokeswoman Kirsten Searer said Wednesday. The schedule and other details …read more […]