Waiting

This might be a good time to update and comment on where we're at with the sex-ed controversy. First, some background information for those who haven't been following the story.

The Montgomery County, Maryland, Public School district developed some new classes for 8th and 10th grade Health. There are two new classes in 8th grade on sexual orientation, well, mainly they're about bullying and harassment, and two new classes in 10th grade that discuss sexual orientation a little more, plus a 10th grade class in condom use: five 45-minute classes in all. The sexual orientation classes in both grades focus on respect, empathy, and tolerance. Sexual orientation is presented in terms of the way a person feels emotionally, romantically, and sexually, and there is no discussion of any sexual behaviors. The condom class has a video where they put a condom on a wooden peg.

The Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum formed in 2004 to recall the county school board after they had unanimously voted to adopt a new sex-ed curriculum, and we formed the same week to support the board's decision. To shorten the story considerably, the CRC complained and threw tantrums and eventually, in May of 2005, they were able to get a judge to issue a 10-day temporary restraining order based on some background materials for the classes that mentioned religion. That restraining ordermeant that classes could not be tested, and forced the school district to negotiate with the CRC, with the result being that the district threw out that curriculum and started developing a new one.

As would be expected, the "new new" curriculum was, shall we say, less conservative than the "old new" one. Though it comprised fewer changes to the existing curriculum, it did contain some materials that encouraged students to think about what it might be like to be a gay or transgender student, as part of the focus on empathy. The CRC and their allies say this is a step backward, and have tried their hardest to interrupt development and implementation of the new classes.

The school district has moved forward admirably in the face of the background noise generated by the CRC, who believe that talking objectively about sexual orientation is a violation of their religious beliefs, and that the classes will lead students to become gay. The curriculum was developed by a team of pediatricians who ensured that it was scientifically and medically accurate, then reviewed by a team of lawyers to make sure there was no legal vulnerability. The district then submitted the new class materials to review and evaluation by a citizens advisory committee, who proposed many changes. Most of these were accepted by district staff and included in the final materials. In March of this year -- last month, the new classes were pilot-tested in six schools without incident, other than CRC disruptions. There were no reports of students becoming gay after the classes; most comments suggested the classes were a little bit boring.

The CRC has two more cards to play out before this is finished. First, they have petitioned the state school board to hold a hearing and overturn the county's decision to implement the new courses. Note that the materials were accepted unanimously by the county school board and did not receive any objections from families or students when they were tested.

It is not clear when or if the state board will actually hold a hearing, or what it will be if they do hold it. The CRC is hoping for a show trial with dozens of witnesses and depositions, but the board could just review written materials and issue a decision. Or, according to an article in The Examiner (which we have not found to be a reliable source), the school board could decide not to decide, postpone any hearing until after the classes are fully implemented, and let the matter drop in that way.

If the CRC loses at the state school board level, they still have one more card to play. Their president and attorney, John Garza, has said that they will sue again in federal court on constitutional grounds. They want to argue that it is their religious right to prevent other people's children from learning about homosexuality. Note that parents actually have to ask the school, in writing, to allow their child to attend these classes; otherwise the student will work on an independent study project in the library. Nobody is forced or required to attend. Regardless, these guys think the classes violate their constitutional right to practice their religion, and want to take that to court.

We are confident that the school district's legal team has studied the class content closely, and there is no constitutional violation here. In several cases, we have thought that the school district was unnecessarily cautious in what they chose to include. Some important materials have been omitted out of fear, we'd have to surmise, that they would create an opening for a legal attack. Overcautious or just cautious, they are being very careful about what is included.

Let's just put it clearly: science is not a religion. The schools are permitted to teach state-of-the-art scientific knowledge in the classroom without fear that they are violating somebody's First Amendment rights. The CRC has tried to argue that this is "secular humanism," which they say is a religion, but ... first of all, it isn't secular humanism -- it's secular, but it isn't humanism, and second, secular humanism isn't a religion. So that's easy.

The current situation is that we are waiting to see what the state school board decides. The state superintendent already sided with MCPS in allowing the pilot testing to go forward, and we do not expect the state Board of Education to take the extraordinary measure of overruling the county, which would amount to a statement that they think one of the highest-rated school districts in the country is incompetent to develop its own class materials.

The question is whether the CRC can find funding to mount one last legal assault in the courtroom. The way things have been going nationally and locally, there is little public support for their nutty ravings, actually, they have close to zero support in our county. If they can get one of the Family Blah Blah groups to back them, or get some of Falwell's lawyers to come up here like they did last time, perhaps they can get this into court. They won't win if the case is tried on its merits, but they may find another technicality to use to get their way over the will of the people -- you can't rule it out.

And so now we wait. Now and then there is a flurry of documents, letters to the editor, or whatever, but at this point the public is comfortable with the classes, and the school district is planning to move forward.

This blog has been the focus of a lot of the discussion on this topic, and will continue to be. There are lots of developments parallel to ours at the national level, for instance the ruling about late-term abortion, the report on the failure of abstinence-only education, revelations about how the religious right has infiltrated the federal government, etc. The culture wars are in a new phase, as the people realize where this was all headed and try to pull the country out of a moral nose-dive. So we'll keep talking about all these things, plus of course you'll want to know what I'm listening to on the radio on Sunday morning, right? Anyway, I might not stay so close to the immediate topic while we wait.