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CRC Statements to the Montgomery County Public Schools Board of Education, January 11, 2005
Last week, on behalf of the Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum (CRC), I requested a meeting with Dr. Weast, Mrs. O'Neill and Dr. Haughey. I learned yesterday that there was concern over the intent of my request and it was denied.
Upon hearing this it was brought to my attention that you have been receiving angry, and often threatening correspondence regarding your vote of the recently revised sex ed curriculum. I want you to know that I and the CRC do not condone these threats.
It has been my pleasure to work with many of you and MCPS staff with regard to the improvement of educational opportunities for the children of Montgomery County. I appreciate the efforts and commitment of each of you and have a healthy respect for the demands you face in tackling the complexities of a large and diverse population.
I am disappointed that some have resorted to the tactic of threats in an attempt to overturn your vote. While I am opposed to the new changes of the curriculum, I and the CRC are only interested in working with you in a civil, open, and respectful manner. I personally will not associate or be affiliated with anyone who resorts to acts of hate and violent intent.
Hopefully there will an opportunity for us to sit down and discuss the issues that have brought us to this point. The CRC is interested only in ensuring all points of view have been explored, acknowledged, and included.
As a representative for the Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, I want to explain why the new sex-ed curriculum is not responsible. “Health Education” which in the name of tolerance leads students toward risk of physical harm or death could be described as irresponsible.
In the mid 1980’s I was a floor nurse and IV Therapist who had the privilege to care for patients afflicted with and dying of AIDS. That privilege didn’t come without personal risk. The first time I was asked to start an IV on a dying Aids patient I sweated bullets, since I knew those latex gloves provided only a relative safety that a needle stick would quickly obliterate. Having only latex gloves between myself and the incurable, active Aids virus did not feel “safe”!
Abstinence is the only absolute protection against STD’s. The notion of “Safe Sex” has been called a failure by international speakers at the 2002 Barcelona Aids conference. Let’s not forget those 8,500 people who die of Aids everyday. Any sex education program that fails to respond to the severe threat of Aids with a strong preventative message endangers the lives of students and should be considered irresponsible and negligent.
Consider the highly successful ABC program used in Africa to decrease the incidence of AIDS. This massive public education campaign says: A: Abstain from sex until marriage, B: Be faithful to your partner, or C: use Condoms if abstinence and fidelity are not practiced. Over 10 years, the reports all agree: Abstinence and reduction in the number of sexual partners, not condoms, were the most important behavioral changes linked to the success of this program. My point here is that it was A-B-C; with abstinence first and condoms last in emphasis and education. The new curriculum is irresponsible and illogical in its move away from a formerly clear message of abstinence for teens.
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