Sex Ed and Local Government

If your memories of Sex Ed were the horror shows and dire warnings from local religious elders in their public school teacher day jobs (squeezing as much shock and awful secular public schools would allow) then this recent article on how modern Sex Ed works in the area may sound like an improvement. From last Tuesday's News-Gazette:

Health district educators ensuring middle-schoolers get comprehensive sex ed
...
To ensure students in Champaign, Urbana and Rantoul were getting "comprehensive" information — which includes teaching about sexually transmitted diseases, birth control, abstinence and consent — educators with the health district have been going into middle schools for the past five years, equipped with an evidence-based curriculum that goes for seven weeks.

"It's called 'Making Proud Choices,'" Greger said. "Generally, the kids are really receptive to it. The teachers enjoy the program, as well."

If it seems redundant to bring an additional educator into middle schools already staffed with health teachers, Greger said it's often not.

"It kind of takes maybe that awkwardness out of teaching it for the teacher," she said. "We're in there with those kids for however long; we don't see them every day. The kids might even be more comfortable talking to us about that kind of thing than with their regular classroom teacher."

More at the full article here. It also highlighted further collaboration that led to consent being on the curriculum:

For the past two years, the three educators have reached roughly 1,000 students per year, with Fruitt adding that Rantoul schools have added an extra layer of education for students by inviting Urbana's Rape Advocacy Counseling and Education Services to present on sexual-assault prevention.

That, she said, came about as a result of a coalition between school officials, the health district and social-service providers.