Guest Speakers Allowed in Sex Education Classes

Thousand Oaks school officials have rejected a recommendation to ban guest speakers from addressing sex education classes about AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases.

Mildred Lynch, president of the Conejo Valley Unified School District Board, had requested the ban, arguing that all students should receive the same board-approved information about sensitive topics. She argued that the board does not have control over what the outsiders might present as facts.

However, board members voted 4 to 1 against a ban, after a health teacher urged them to continue allowing experts to address students. They reinforce course work in ways that children listen to, teacher Marianne Reeves told the board.

“The outside speakers don’t teach the curriculum, they validate what we say,” Reeves said. “I just hope you’ll trust me in choosing appropriate people.”

Edie Brown, executive director of AIDS Care of Ventura County, agreed that having AIDS patients talk to health classes increases the likelihood that students will listen to what teachers and other adults say about it.

“They can put a face on this disease and see how devastating it is,” Brown said.

Under current policy, teachers often bring in speakers from nonprofit organizations and the Ventura County Public Health Department, officials said.

A handful of parents turned out to support the proposed ban on guest speakers, arguing that they shouldn’t have to worry about what their children are learning from non-teachers about sex.

Assistant Supt. Richard Simpson said all parents have the right to withdraw their children from sex education classes, which include information about human development and reproduction in addition to information about sexually transmitted diseases.

Board members Dolores Didio and Dorothy Beaubien said they originally interpreted the proposed change to mean that guest speakers could still be used as long as they teach supplemental information.

Didio suggested that the board look for ways to develop an approved guest speaker list. She asked that the issue be returned for further discussion later this summer.

The board did approve two other minor changes proposed by Supt. Bill Seaver to limit the terms of committee members who review supplemental sex education materials and to increase the training of health teachers.

Board members requested the changes since their approval in February of a controversial pamphlet promoting abstinence, which led some parents to file a lawsuit. The pamphlet was published by a conservative religious group.