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On Tuesday, the Brunswick County School Board voted 3-2 to approve offering a more comprehensive sex education curriculum for middle school students. Under a new state law signed by Gov. Beverly Perdue, school districts are required to offer more than abstinence-only sex education. Students must be taught about STDs, contraceptives, and sexual abuse prevention. It is up to each district how to implement the health education act's mandates.
The main choice before the board was whether to make sex education an opt-in or opt-out program. An opt-in approach would require parents to sign a release before a student could participate. Instead, the board voted to make it an opt-out course, so parents who do not want their child to learn about contraceptives, STDs, and sexual abuse will have to request that their students be excused.
"I know it's a touchy subject," said Bud Thorsen, who chairs the board. Ideally, parents would educate their children about sex, but many cannot be counted on to do that, he said. Schools are left to fill in the blanks, and an opt-out strategy will allow the schools to educate more children, he said.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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