6-19-2011 Massachusetts:
Some Massachusetts parents are upset after learning that their adolescent children participated in an in-class survey that asked a series of explicit questions regarding sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
Ok, not really that last one.
One of the questions was “What method of birth control do you use?” with withdrawal listed as one of the options. What twelve-year-old even knows what withdrawal means, let alone how to use it as (ineffective) birth control? Other questions on the survey probed kids on the frequency of their sexual activity, the kinds of drugs they’d experimented with, and whether or not they ever had suicidal thoughts.
If one of the students wrote, “Well I didn’t before I was forced to fill out this embarrassing questionnaire,” in answer to the suicide question, I will buy him or her ice cream for a year. Because that’s what kids should be doing – eating ice cream, climbing trees, complaining about homework, and nervously giggling in the presence of the opposite sex. Not filling out sex surveys.
School officials say they had no choice as to whether or not to administer the survey, as it was tied to a federal grant.
Principal Fran Thomas told Fox News Radio that students were indeed given the survey – and admits it was graphic. But Thomas said the school has nothing to do with the content and they were required to administer the survey to fulfill a grant requirement.
“I can take no responsibility for what’s on that survey,” Thomas said. “It’s not generated by the school system.”
Thomas said the survey was funded by a federal grant and administered by LUK Inc., a local social services agency -- in coordination with the Centers for Disease Control.
Baloney. The government made me do it is the lamest excuse ever. To quote moms everywhere: If the government told you to jump off a cliff, would you do it? The principal could have told the LUK Inc. no, and if the grant money was withheld, the local news team could have been alled in faster than you can say STD prevention.
As parents, we count on our schools to keep an eye out for our kids while they are there. That includes protecting them from graphic material that isn’t appropriate for their age group. It also includes looking for signs that a student may be experimenting with sex or drugs, and scheduling a meeting with the kid’s parents to determine if they’ve noticed a change in behavior as well.
Parents and teachers need to work in better harmony to create the best learning environment for our children. One that doesn’t include asking middle-schoolers how often they engage in oral sex. ..Source.. by Jenny Erikson
June 19, 2011
Principal Has Lame Excuse for Giving Explicit Sex Survey to Middle School Kids
June 18, 2011
Mom: Two girls forced to take survey on sex
6-18-2011 Virginia:
A Fitchburg mother has lodged a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education claiming public middle school officials forced her two daughters to take sex surveys that asked if they’d ever had oral sex and how may people they’ve had sex with.
The Rutherford Institute, a Virginia-based civil liberties organization, filed the complaint earlier this month on behalf of Arlene Tessitore, whose seventh- and eighth-grade daughters attend the Memorial Middle School in Fitchburg.
The complaint says Tessitore didn’t know school officials were administering the surveys and she didn’t — or wouldn’t — give her daughters permission to take them.
The first survey, handed out in February, asked students if they ever tried to commit suicide, had sniffed glue and how many sex partners they’d had.
“Both girls were deeply disturbed by the content of the survey and the fact that they were effectively coerced to participate in it,” the complaint said.
School officials, according to the complaint, said the Youth Risk Behavior Survey was given to students to “satisfy grant requirements.” According to the complaint, it was administered by LUK Inc., a social services agency, under a federal grant program.
In March, after Tessitore had expressed her concerns to school officials, her older daughter was asked to take another survey that asked students to answer true or false to questions, including, “I have had oral sex at some point in my life,” according to the complaint.
John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, said the federal protection of pupil rights amendment is very clear.
“The law requires written parental consent,” said Whitehead, who has been practicing constitutional law for 30 years. “The schools have to follow the law — that’s their job.”
The complaint alleges Fitchburg children are “being exploited for data by social services agencies in a quest for federal funds that violates both specific federal statutes and more general constitutional protections of parental rights and personal privacy.”
Memorial Middle School principal Francis Thomas and LUK CEO Gordon Benson didn’t return calls yesterday.
Tessitore wasn’t available for comment.
Whitehead said the Fitchburg mother had contacted the institute and she’s “very upset.” ..Source.. by Jessica Heslam
