Divisions Remain as New Health Standards Draft Approaches

Opinions about draft health education standards remain divided, as the state board of education prepares to consider revisions. Some want them scrapped altogether, while others fear a missed opportunity.

Since the draft standards were proposed in March they’ve been controversial, particularly the parts dealing with sex education. The draft standards range from teaching accurate names of body parts in kindergarten, to differentiating between sexual orientation and gender identity in fourth grade, to discussing different types of sexual activity and their relationship to sexually transmitted diseases in seventh grade.

Sen. Joni Albrecht has led a group of about 30 state senators objecting to the proposal. Albrecht says 47 school boards have so far voiced their opposition, among about 250 districts statewide. And she says education on such topics is better left to parents.

“I think morally and ethically it’s the parents’ responsibility to teach those things at their own home. You know, we all have different belief systems and a moral compass, if you will…I’m a grandparent of 13. I do not want them to be exposed to things like this that do not need to be talked about at school,” Albrecht said.

Sen. Megan Hunt, one of the senators who did not sign on to Albrecht’s objections, says school is exactly where such subjects should be dealt with.

“I think a lot of parents are actually ignorant about sex education. I mean, I know some things about geography but that doesn’t mean that I should be a geography teacher. And that’s what schools are for. It’s to give kids exposure to medically accurate, age appropriate, research based information that’s going to help them make healthy decisions for their whole lives. And to not give them that is really a missed opportunity,” Hunt said.

Colby Coash of the Nebraska Association of School Boards, which has not taken a position on the proposed standards, says school districts would have the option of whether or not to adopt them. In a letter to administrators, Education Commissioner Matt Blomstedt said the state board has discussed creating a second draft that would remove many explicit examples and reframe sensitive topics in response to parents’, grandparents’, schools’ and elected leaders’ concerns. Spokesman David Jespersen said the Department of Education wants to make that public in the first part of August.