Wrist slap for 'Have sex, take drugs' school seminar

Wrist slap for 'Have sex, take drugs' school seminar
But officials rebuff request from legislature for dismissals
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© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

Some Boulder, Colo., High School officials have been given a "reprimand" for setting up and taking students as young as 14 to a seminar in which the children were told to "have sex, do drugs," but a request from the state legislature for further action has been turned down.

Helayne Jones, the president of the Boulder Valley District School Board, read a letter at a public meeting on the issue stating that "actions" were taken on the complaints the seminar generated, and several Boulder High staff members were given "verbal reprimands." In addition, a letter was sent to parents about the situation.

But the letter said no dismissals are contemplated over the seminar called "STDs: Sex, Teens and Drugs."

Requests for that level of punishment came from a number of parents outraged their children were subjected to the seminar, as well as members of the Colorado Legislature.

All of the Republican state senators on the Senate Education Committee had written to the school. "The minors who sat through this dubious discussion were subjected to the most dangerous kind of input any youth could get from a presumed authority figure: a green light to engage in destructive behavior," the letter said.

The senators said the production, a part of the Conference on World Affairs of the University of Colorado, was "a disgrace."

Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins, signed the letter.

"This is ludicrous. Here we have a school that actually required students to attend an assembly where they were urged to try sex and drugs," he said. "Is that really the biggest challenge we face with today's youth – getting them to try sex and drugs? It's like the people in charge over there are operating in some alternative universe."

It was comments from forum panelist Joel Becker, a psychologist from UCLA, that sparked the most outrage.

"I am going to encourage you to have sex and encourage you to use drugs appropriately," Becker said. "Why I am going to take that position is because you are going to do it anyway," he continued. "I think as a psychologist and health educator, it is more important to educate you in a direction that you might actually stick to. So, I am going to stay mostly on with the sex side because that is the area I know more about. I want to encourage you to all have healthy, sexual behavior."

Lawmakers noted that majority Democrats in the state legislature have decided to impose a mandatory comprehensive sex education plan on students, but refused to adopt a Republican bill setting statewide standards for math and science knowledge.

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