Kids Can Formally Opt Out

Policy Change in Sex Education

By Mitzi Rapkin, 5-11-06

Roaring Fork School District which covers Carbondale, Glenwood Springs and Basalt is overhauling its policy governing sex education opt-out procedures according to a report in the Glenwood Springs Post Independent.

The newspaper is reporting the overhaul is part of the school board's efforts to adjust its policies to comply with federal law.

Michael Bair School Board President said, “We do board policies through the Colorado Associations of School Boards. They provide school districts with required state and federal policies and what we did last night was simply pass a policy which grants parents the right to opt out their children from sex education by notifying the school; that was generally a practice but not a policy in the book.”

The new policy for opting out of family life, sex, HIV/AIDS and health education requires parents to show that the curriculum violates "personal beliefs and teachings" of the student or the student's parents or guardian.

Under the policy, teachers must notify parents of controversial issues a month before they will be discussed in the curriculum. Parents then must submit an exemption request to the school principal.

According to the Post Independent, students receive health, sex and HIV-prevention education at almost every level from the fifth grade through the 10th grade. Students also watch a video about changes their classmates of the opposite sex will undergo.

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