HB 2184 A bad bill made worse

The following amendments have been added to HB2184 which make it even more offensive to citizens who believe in local control and optimum health goals for individuals, families and society. Only the amendments that made mandatory sex ed intolerable were approved in the house education committee. The comments below explain the main points of concern.

AMH ED H4377.1 means that ALL students will be subject to CSE regardless of their need. Not only is this poor teaching strategy, it is harmful to students that have been abused. Graphic images and discussions trigger early childhood trauma. This also makes it impossible to have a class that would benefit students suffering from dysphoria that need additional care and considerations. Instead all students will be subject to the trauma and dysphoria situations of the most abused child in the classroom.

AMH ED MOET 106 adds many hours to the required school curriculum. Particularly for schools that were doing the required 2-hour HIV instruction each year, they will have to add materials. This amendment created another conflict needing resolution for districts.

Social and emotional learning standard requirements are now linked to the draconian measures, threats and reporting in CSE. Relating to sexuality issues, K-3rd benchmarks/standards[1]are open to interpretation. A teacher could justify bringing in Drag Queens, Clerics or transcendental meditation. The standards declare autonomy from the family and the importance of acceptance of all different values including peer pressure. Read the K-3 Benchmarks Early Elementary column that identifies individual and community rights and responsibilities, cultural acceptance to care of natural environment with sexuality issues in mind. These standards, as well as CSE standards, are changeable without any oversight by the local community, the legislature or any elected officials except the Superintendent of OSPI.

Grades 4 and or 5 will receive CSE at least once. Fifth grade already has HIV requirements. Grades 6th -8th will have two courses of CSE. Most of the currently used programs are between 20-30 classes, 4-6 weeks of sexuality instruction times 2. High school has been achieving the health education graduation requirement with one year of about 30 hours of sex ed but this amendment will require 50-60 hours during high school.

AMH ED H4459.1 This amendment brings in federal law, making content and values even farther from local control than it is now. Since the amendment didn’t identify which federal laws it may be the office that promotes abstinence until marriage or the one that uses the United Nations guidelines for sexuality and population control.

The reality is that they are alluding to copyright laws because they want to block parents from being able to see materials. Copyright laws are to protect the creator of materials from losing revenue. Using them to inform parents, education purposes and civic discussions do not violate copyright. Even having them for view in a library or online do not violate the publisher’s rights. Parents need to get an elected official to fight for a watermarked copy so that materials can be seen without paying for it or taking credit for the document.

OSPI will utilize K-12 learning standards from the January 2005 guidelines for sexual health information and disease prevention which are not in alignment with the standards online, now. This amendment is another conflict with HIV education implementation. OSPI “will determine the content for public schools (sic) ((districts)), teachers, and guest speakers.” OSPI “will make any related information, model policies, curricula, or other resources available on their web sites.” This is very far from local control or reflective of local cultural norms.

AMH ED H4385.1 OSPI shall periodically review and revise, training materials, for classroom teachers and principals to implement by March 1, 2021. OSPI is in capricious control of community norms and even control of individual teacher’s classrooms; this type of control is not like any other subject area in schools. There is no accountability for OSPI and its ever new and changing values, ignoring family and religious values. There is no end to the slide of values this amendment gives to OSPI.

AMH ED H4460.1 declares total control of content and training for ALL districts. In most cases, this would be considered, thought control or censorship.

OSPI will “provide technical assistance to schools and school districts that is consistent with the curricula review, selection, and development.”

AMH ED H4386.1 relieves OSPI from the responsibility of reporting to the legislature, the summary of what is happening regarding sex education to the state legislature. For the last 10 year, OSPI was supposed to report to the legislature and they didn’t compile or send a single report.

Now, this amendment lays the responsibility on the local districts to report compliance to OSPI and the results will only be given to the education committee. These decisions impact all districts and all legislators.

Note the adding of the word “comprehensive” to the description of “sexual health education,” means that only one kind of curriculum is allowable. The word “Comprehensive” should be capitalized since it is a trademark for the (Planned Parenthood, SEICUS, Advocates for Youth and LGBTQ movement) curricula.

Warning: When reports of compliance are not sent, a school is in jeopardy of a state take over or the loss of state funds. These threats are taken seriously by school boards.

AMH ED H4375.1 says that integration into the sexual education is not required in other subject areas.

It doesn’t prohibit or prevent content carryover. But last year, the legislature gave teachers a pass on bringing in LGBTQ graphic sexual materials if the teacher felt it appropriate. The teacher did not have to notify parents or the district and would have no negative consequences on their work history. This is still a concern since the curricula recommended by OSPI has recommendations for community referrals and methods of infusing sexuality concepts in other subject areas at the end of chapters. Those curricula should be disallowed, if this amendment is authentic.

AMH ED H4378.1 redefines "public schools" to include “common schools, charter schools, and other specified schools.” This grab of power in the area of sexuality is vaguely written; it will cause once protected schools to submit to these standards. Since OSPI may not have financial control over these additional schools, they may use accreditation as a tool against these personally-funded schools, because they do have absolute control over accreditation.

AMH ED MOET 107 incorporated a questionable practice of “affirmative consent.” All schools, apparently all students grade 4-12 will teach, “"Affirmative consent" means a conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity as a requirement before sexual activity;” Most of these students are not legally allowed to have sexual intercourse.

The topics not mentioned are boundaries, refusal skills or situation risk factors but they will teach how to know signals if the other person wants to have sex. This is preposterous for immature teens. There are no concrete instructional methods that have been shown scientifically beneficial in avoiding increases in coercion, date rape or later allegations evident in the “Me, too” movement. Will students smile and nod or will they be given a consent form to sign and what time frame will the permission cover?

Contact your schools, neighbors, friends and faith leaders! This cannot be healthy. The bill goes to the Rules Committee in the house and then for a vote by all house members. Rules committee members http://leg.wa.gov/House/Committees/RUL/Pages/MembersStaff.aspx

House members http://leg.wa.gov/House/Representatives/Pages/default.aspx

[1]https://www.k12.wa.us/sites/default/files/public/studentsupport/sel/pubdocs/Appendix%20D%20Standards%2C%20Benchmarks%20Indicators.pdf