Board Seeks Ban on 2 Groups for Teacher Forums

The county Board of Education wants to ban Planned Parenthood and AIDS Care speakers from educational workshops, a move that some educators say could limit what Ventura County schoolchildren learn in sex-education classes.

Three of the five board members--Wendy Larner, Angela N. Miller and John McGarry--said Friday they would like to drop speakers associated with those groups from workshops organized by the county superintendent of schools office.

Trustee Marty Bates declined to discuss his position Friday. But at a meeting earlier this week, Bates indicated he would support such a move. Trustee Al Rosenwas less enthusiastic, but said Friday he believes the county schools staff should look into the matter.

The issue arose at the county Board of Education’s meeting Monday, when Bates said he was angered by a December newspaper article that he said implied that a Planned Parenthood representative was speaking for the school board at a December HIV/AIDS prevention workshop in Camarillo.

Sponsored by the county superintendent of schools office, the workshop was aimed at teachers, nurses and administrators from public school districts throughout Ventura County. It addressed how to carry out a state law mandating AIDS education in the classroom.

Bates also objected to a speaker in the daylong program. The young man, who is infected with HIV, gave graphic descriptions of sexual practices in explaining how he contracted the disease. The speaker was recommended for the workshop by the Ventura-based AIDS Care organization.

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“I had no idea that this offensive a program was put on,” Bates said at the Monday meeting. “I don’t believe that Planned Parenthood or the gay rights community in Ventura County should be putting on our programs.”

McGarry said Friday that he believes teachers need information about contraception and AIDS prevention if they are to do an effective job teaching sex education to the county’s 117,000 public school students. But controversy often erupts when Planned Parenthood or AIDS Care is involved in presentations, he said.

“If a group is causing this much grief, even if they represent a minority voice, maybe it’s time to take them off our list,” McGarry said.

County Supt. Charles Weis said Friday that he is looking into what information those groups provide and will make a recommendation to the board later this month. Weis said he agrees that the speaker from AIDS Care may have gone too far in describing his sexual practices.

“This gentleman talked about his own sexual practices with his mate,” he said. “It was pretty graphic and it was out of line.”

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Board President Wendy Larner said she also has concerns. Allowing speakers from Planned Parenthood to make presentations about methods of birth control sends the wrong message to students.

“They believe that teen sexuality is a matter of personal rights,” Larner said. “And that is not what this society has decided.”

Miller and Bates were elected to the board in November after receiving support from conservative Christian organizations. Larner received support from similar groups when she was elected two years ago.

Some educators say they worry about what could happen if students do not get all the information they need to learn how to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

The HIV workshops, which are presented at least once a year, are designed to help teachers teach AIDS prevention in grades seven through 12 as required by law, they say.

“It’s very easy to tell students how a virus is passed in technical terms,” said Judy Seyle, director of the county schools’ health programs. “But there is a very powerful message that comes across when a real live person with AIDS talks to students.”

AIDS Care Director Doug Green said his group’s presenters are trained to determine what information will be given based on the sophistication of an audience. He is horrified, Green said, that the county would no longer use such speakers.

“You might want to bet that your child is practicing safe sex,” he said. “But I wouldn’t want to make that bet.”

Cheryl Rollings, executive director of Planned Parenthood in Ventura, said her organization is committed to providing both teen-agers and their parents with the information necessary to make informed choices about their sexuality.

“We don’t just talk about birth control,” Rollings said. “We stress that children need to talk to their parents and make choices that fit within their own family’s values.”