DA tells schools to drop sex ed, or teachers could be charged

By Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: April 6, 2010 2:12 p.m. |(75) Comments

Madison A district attorney is telling Juneau County schools to abandon their sex education courses, saying a new curriculum law could lead to criminal charges against teachers for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Starting in the fall, the new law requires schools that have sex education programs to tell students how to use condoms and other contraceptives. Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth said such education encourages sex among children, which is illegal, and could lead to charges against teachers.

The new law "promotes the sexualization - and sexual assault - of our children," Southworth wrote in a March 24 letter to officials within five school districts. He urged the districts to suspend their sex education programs and transfer their anatomy curriculum to a science course until the legislature changes the law.

"Forcing our schools to instruct children on how to utilize contraceptives encourages our children to engage in sexual behavior, whether as a victim or an offender," he wrote. "It is akin to teaching children about alcohol use, then instructing them on how to make mixed alcoholic drinks."

Rep. Kelda Helen Roys (D-Madison), who helped write the new law, said Southworth's letter was irresponsible and that it was laughable to think teachers could be charged for telling students how to use contraception.

"Using condoms isn't a crime for anyone," she said. "This guy is not a credible legal source on this matter, I'm sorry to say. His purpose is to intimidate and create enough panic in the minds of school administrators that they'll turn their backs on young people and their families."

She said the legislature passed the law on comprehensive sex education because it is the most effective way to change sexual behavior and reduce teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

Caught in the middle are schools, said Tom Andres, superintendent of the New Lisbon School District.

"Here we are again - short of money, getting a dictate that we have to do something different from two different sources," he said.

Andres said district officials are studying Southworth's letter and will consider it in the coming months as they decide what to do.

"The challenge with it is as soon as you start discussions with this issue, the morality aspect, the spiritual aspect . . . the family aspect has to be weighed," he said. "We don't sit here and condone premature sexual behavior, yet it's a societal reality. So how do we deal with it?"

Southworth, a Republican, said in his letter he may charge teachers with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, depending on the specifics of cases that come to him.

"If a teacher instructs any student aged 16 or younger how to utilize contraceptives under circumstances where the teacher knows the child is engaging in sexual activity with another child - or even where the 'natural and probable consequences' of the teacher's instruction is to cause that child to engage in sexual intercourse with a child - that teacher can be charged under this statute" of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, he wrote.

He said the law went too far because it required teachers not to teach students about the effects of birth control, but on how to properly use them, "which turns objective instruction into implicit encouragement and advocacy."

The new law was approved by the Assembly in November and Senate in January. All Republicans voted against it. Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, signed it in February.

The law requires schools that have sex education courses to teach students how to use birth control and prevent sexually transmitted disease. It bars abstinence-only programs.

Under the new law, parents can remove their children from sex education classes, as they could before. Schools also would be allowed to not offer sex education, but they would have to notify parents they did not offer such courses.

Southworth's letter said the law undermines parental authority and requires schools to condone controversial sexual behavior because they have to teach students about gender stereotypes. That would likely require schools to teach students about homosexuality and transgender and transsexual people, he said.

He said the law prevents teachers from telling students "that sexual promiscuity is even wrong" and would conflict with most students' and teachers' religious beliefs.

He said he also was troubled by a provision of the law that allows schools to permit sex education to be provided by "volunteer health care providers." He said that could lead to instruction from Planned Parenthood, which provides contraception and abortions and lobbied for the new Wisconsin law.

Students "should not be subjected to pandering by 'volunteers' from local contraception businesses whose real interest is likely obtaining new, young customers," he wrote.