Dive Brief:
- A health textbook titled "Your Health Today" was adopted 3-2 in June by a school board in Fremont, CA, but parents are complaining it contains "too much sex."
- According to the San Jose Mercury News, some parents believe the book is pornographic and inappropriate for ninth graders because it deals with topics including masturbation, foreplay, and erotic touch.
- The opposition to the book has led over 1,500 people to sign a petition on the site Care2 calling for its removal.
Dive Insight:
The school board isn't bending to parental pushback. According to the its president, Lara Calvert-York, the board went through an extensive review process that included parent and teacher feedback when choosing this book. In Calvert's eyes, the book is completely appropriate and necessary since many students are sexually active by the time they reach 9th grade — regardless of what parents want to believe. "We know this from student surveys done in our own district," Calvert-York told the Mercury News. "Ninth grade is the last time when we have an opportunity to help educate our students on how to be physically and emotionally safe."
Regardless of where one falls on the textbook debate, the conversation highlights a bigger point: who has the final say in school decisions. This is the case of a traditional public school's struggles between an elected school board and the public. Despite parental complaints, the school is going ahead and spending over $200,000 on the purchase of the controversial book. This usage of public dollars for something the public is so against is interesting and perhaps a bigger issue than just the chosen book. That said, at the end of the day, the public elects the school board to make the decisions and it's ultimately the board's choice what gets used in the classroom or not.