Merrill Parents Protest Sex-Ed Changes
Source: Wausau Daily Herald By: Keith Uhlig MERRILL -- Parents worried that a new law on sex education will harm their children are circulating a petition to block the changes in Merrill Area Public Schools. The petition is simple, reading, "Community members concerned about changes to human growth and development curriculum. The undersigned do not support changes to the curriculum under the new law." The law, passed earlier this year, requires school districts that provide sex education to teach about birth control and sexually transmitted diseases. That means the Merrill school district , which has relied on abstinence-only education and not taught about birth control in the past, is updating its curriculum for human growth and development courses. Karen Cournaya, 45, of the town of Scott, the mother of two high-schoolers, wants the district's human growth and development curriculum put on hold for the coming school year while the community learns about the specific changes being made to sexual education in the district. "I want to have time to have the community get aware of what this bill is," Cournaya said. She believes that teaching contraception and abstinence "sends a mixed message, and we want our children to say 'no.'" Cournaya believes that mixed message could lead to more teenagers having sex. Details of the new sex-ed curriculum still are being worked out, said Carole Witt Starck, director of curriculum instruction for Merrill Area Public Schools. But the district will teach about contraception, including health benefits and side effects of various birth control methods. Students also will be taught about inappropriate sexual advances, decision-making and the benefits of sexual abstinence, she said. "We're an abstinence district, and we will maintain our abstinence position," Witt Starck said. If Merrill Area Public Schools -- or any other Wisconsin school district -- chooses not to offer curriculum about contraception, it would be required to drop all sex education, according to the law. The law also allows parents to pull their children from sex-ed classes without penalty if parents are uncomfortable with lessons being taught. Sue Geiss, 40, of the town of Merrill and Dorly Dahlke, 45, of the town of Scott are two more parents working to circulate the petitions. They say they are not trying to pressure the district into dropping its human growth and development courses. But they are watching the district closely as it develops its new lessons. Dahlke's opposition to the new program depends on how in-depth the district goes with its contraception lessons. She's not sure exactly at what point she would pull her three children from the course. "That's a tough question. I guess there are certain lines that can be drawn," Dahlke said. For example, if the district teaches about subjects such as the morning-after pill, abortion and the like, Geiss said she would pull her children from the class. "I'm very pro-life," she said. "And I don't want my children to be taught that." Dahlke doesn't want a group from an agency such as Family Planning Health Services in Wausau to provide the lessons. Family Planning offers reproductive and nutritional services to women and their families, including contraceptives. Geiss shares Dahlke's opinion. If Family Planning were brought into Merrill schools, Geiss said, she would like to see another agency that matches her values, such as the HOPE Pregnancy Resource Center, an agency that helps women with unplanned pregnancies which also offers school curriculum that is based on abstinence. Witt Starck said a committee of parents, educators and others that is working on establishing the curriculum has heard presentations from Family Planning about what the agency would teach students, and plans are to hear from HOPE. The next curriculum meeting will be at 10 a.m. Aug. 20 at the district's Administration Building. The entire matter will need to be approved by the Merrill School Board before the changes are made in the classroom, and there's been no schedule set for when the board might make that decision. "More than likely, the resources (used in classrooms) will be those in the mainstream, with authors of books, and help from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and the federal government, organizations that do not have a political leaning," Witt Starck said. The petition drive is "mostly about awareness," Geiss said. "That's our biggest goal. Get the parents aware that this is going to happen. To see the curriculum before it's presented to the students so they (parents) can make an informed choice." | 
