Tehachapi News

Effectiveness of sex education questioned

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Triggered by reports of an alleged rise in teen pregnancy, the Tehachapi Unified School District Board of Trustees took up the subject of sex education and the effectiveness of the district's current instruction at its meeting last week.

“The program we have is not being effective,” said Trustee Judy Walsh, who requested the subject be aired. “I'd like it to be something we can be successful with.”

Walsh said one high school teacher reported a significant number of pregnancies among her  students. Walsh said she talked to various people regarding the issue.

“They are begging for a committee that includes parents and students. Abstinence is not working. It's just not working. I would like to see us have a committee. Students are saying, 'something has to be done.'”

The Kern County Department of Health, she said, will not come in to assess the situation or make presentations until the board requests it. She said it is important for the community to get involved.

“It's a very serious problem,” Walsh said. It's a problem that also involves the boys, she said, -- “who are beginning to be held responsible for the next 18 years.”

Trustee Holly Hart, referring to the district's sex education battle of several years ago, said, “I sat through every one of the abstinence programs. As soon as I find a word, I'll let you know.”

Public speaker and Jacobsen Middle School math teacher Janice Tietz, an 18-year veteran of the district, said the subject came up at a planning committee meeting and “steam came out of my ears.”

Tietz said she wanted clarification on who is making the sex education presentations at the middle and high schools, and that her concern was not new.

“I had some real concerns about what was told to our kids in middle school. That was five years ago,” Tietz said.

Hart said the board had agreed at one time to bring in Dr. Susan Hall to make sex education presentations.

“I thought we were back to Dr. Hall in 7th and 8th grades,” Hart said.

Terry Reible, secretary to Superintendent of Schools Richard Swanson, PhD., said there is no funding for Hall. “She charges $400 an hour,” Reible said.

The board questioned whether a conservative organization has been making sex education presentations at the schools.

“I'm shocked to discover they're back on campus,” Hart said. “Nobody seems to know. We need information.”

The California sex education curriculum is established in the state education standards and taught in health class and in some cases in other classes by teachers trained in the subject, Tehachapi High School Principal Cary Johnson told the Tehachapi News later. Johnson was at a Warrior championship game and was not at the board meeting.

The board tabled the discussion until more data becomes available.
“We've never had a good baseline,” Walsh said.

In other business at the Nov. 18 meeting held at the old Jacobsen Junior High School, the board commended local writer Tori Montes, who has been spending time as an embedded journalist in Afghanistan with the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing.

Trustee Judy Wood, reporting for the student representative, said the students like the new interior landscaping space and they appreciated the Veterans Day assembly. One parent at the Veterans Day assembly, Wood said, told her, “It's a great group of kids… well-behaved… they brought tears to my eyes.”

The board decided to maintain the Tehachapi School Facilities Corporation just in case it's needed, and set the annual meeting date for December. Chief Administrator of Business Services Julie Auvil said the corporation, which exists for financing purposes and to isolate risk from the district, was formed in 1993 to facilitate building Cummings Valley Elementary. She said, “There is no money in this corporation.”

After some discussion Trustee Hart asked to change her vote to no.

“It's like handing somebody a blank slate in the middle of the Great Depression. It's irresponsible. It's an empty corporation and that's scary.”