The debate over a controversial sexual education program was reignited this week.
The School District of the City of Charles was the latest to question whether a faith-based group should be teaching sensitive material to students in public schools.
The program in question is run by “ThriVe,” a religious, pro-life organization that offers reproductive medical services to women. The organization created “Best Choice,” an abstinence-based curriculum that focuses on sexual risk avoidance. ThriVe teaches thousands of students each year in districts around the St. Louis area.
In recent months, concerned parents have challenged local school boards to find a different program. They said “Best Choice” shames sexually active students, doesn’t teach enough about safe sex practices, and argue ThriVe hasn’t been transparent with families and schools about what is included in the curriculum.
“Every student has the right to be taught basic facts taught without any political or religious morality bias,” said Sally Hunt, a parent from the Parkway District who challenged her school board and others.
This spring, the Francis Howell School District decided to stop using the program. Other local districts put the program on hold, or planned to review it.
Monday night, the St. Charles school district held a special meeting to hear parent concerns about the program.
“We certainly had some folks out there saying things about the program that may be true, may not be true – we weren’t really sure at that time,” said Superintendent Jeff Marion. “We felt like, really, to do it justice, we needed just have a meeting dedicated to that so we could do a full review. To get all the information out there and make sure we cover both sides so our board can make an informed decision.”
The district began using “Best Choice” curriculum during the 2013-14 school year. Marion said the program is taught in grades 6-12, and parents have a choice whether their child participates in the class or not. District officials said the curriculum is allowed under state and federal law.
Marion said the program is funded by the St. Charles Community and Children’s Resource Board (CCRB). He said that agency did their own investigation into ThriVe’s program and continued to support it.
Marion said the district only had one complaint about “Best Choice” in recent years, until parents in other school districts sounded alarms this year. He hoped Monday’s meeting would allow families and school officials to dive into the details.
“My goal is to exhaust everything there is, to get all the data out on the table, in a factual way, so we can put the question behind us – one way or another,” he said. “Because right now we’re spending a lot of time and trouble on this one issue and we want to get it right, we want to make a decision, we want to move on.”
Late Monday night, the Board of Education voted 7-0 in favor of keeping “Best Choice” for the upcoming school year. The vote followed hours of public comment from parents, community members, and representatives from ThriVe and “Best Choice.”
"What St. Charles School district is providing, may for some children, be the only opportunity for factual, sexual education that person gets. And abstinence is really unrealistic for all children,” challenged one parent in the district.
Another St. Charles parent defended the program after her kids completed it.
"I requested each one of my children – ‘What are they teaching you? Is anything faith based? Is anything about God? Anything religious?” And absolutely not,” she said, was their answer.
Representatives from “Best Choice” said the school program operates separately from ThriVe and its objectives.
“Our goal is not to shame anybody, not to convert them, or talk about any religious thing in the classroom,” said Juvaughn Baker, who said he works for “Best Choice.”
“Our goal is to teach to your kids about the risks of sex."
A district spokesman said the concerns brought up during Monday night's meeting will be addressed during "Best Choice" curriculum revisions.
