Students at Niagara Falls High School are having a real conversation about sex, or the lack of sex education if you ask high school junior, Caleb Harris. “I had a lot of questions,” Harris said. “If you walk down the hall, you'll hear the word sex at least six times because it's always being talked about, it's always being implied especially in culture nowadays.”
From Caleb's perspective, that gossip and talk among peers in the halls wasn't being addressed by curriculum in the classroom. So, he approached the board about making changes to sex education.
That--coupled with the high rate of teen pregnancy at school---is prompting a proposed five prong approach.
Officials are looking to:
1. Expanding pre-k for 3 year olds
2. Add a health educator in the elementary school
3. Revisit the sex education curriculum
4. Place a mobile community health center at the high school
5. Allow groups like Planned Parenthood to meet with educators annually to talk about sex education
Reporter Ali Touhey: Have you gotten pushback about the five prong approach?
District Superintendent Mark Laurrie: I wouldn't say there's great pushback. We've had a number of questions.
Laurrie will present the plan to the board October 19. A board vote isn't required to move the plan forward. But, Laurrie said he intends to seek its approval. He's already earned the support from one of the curriculum's toughest critics. “It's going to add more to the curriculum it's going to change it and make it better,” Harris said.
