‘Sex Education: A Reasoned View’

I disagree with The Times editorial titled “Sex Education: A Reasoned View” (Dec. 15), which found the recently passed class-visitation policy of the Newport/Mesa School District “correct” and “reasonable.”

By insisting on three-day advance written notice for a parent to visit his or her child’s class (and even though the wording does allow for unspecified exceptions), I think the school board is sending the wrong message to the community. All around the nation parents are asking that their schools be more accessible and more accountable. This new policy, far more restrictive than that of any neighboring school district, suggests there is something our schools want to hide.

In taking this position I do not mean to condone the continued activities of the Committee to Restore Ethical and Traditional Education (CREATE). I do believe, however, that it should be acknowledged that they were the ones who focused public attention on the school board’s lack of specific guidelines for the teaching of sex education. And indeed it was discovered that some topics were being taught that reasonable people would agree are not in the need-to-know category. However, these discoveries do not grant the CREATE group license to continue to put teachers on the defensive, or to press a further agenda.

Specific guidelines have now been adopted by the board, albeit belatedly, with opportunity for the full spectrum of parental input. The trust of supportive parents must now be placed on school administrators to monitor curriculum and classrooms to ensure that those guidelines will be followed. If they’re not, the next opportunity for recourse will be election 1991.

KAREN EVARTS

Newport Beach