By: Erin Richards
Carrie Timmermon and her husband were recently cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, talking about their daughter starting 4-year-old kindergarten this fall, when the conversation drifted to what information kids should learn at what ages.
"And we just kind of asked each other," Timmermon said, " 'When should we tell her about the differences between boys and girls?' "
For parents like the Timmermons in Milwaukee, who diligently pre-screen G-rated movies and forbid their daughter from playing with the made-up and mini-skirted Bratz dolls, when and how to start talking about the human body and sex can be a bit of a mystery.
Schools face a similar dilemma. Many districts teach what's broadly known as human growth and development, but the thoroughness of the information varies widely among districts, schools and classrooms, based on an informal survey of schools by the Journal Sentinel.
Over the summer, Milwaukee Public Schools is addressing the unevenness in its human growth and development curriculum by revamping the entire program from kindergarten through high school, and making a plan to train teachers on how to deliver the information.
The School Board has not yet reviewed the proposed changes.
"There are some schools that pride themselves on providing a thorough curriculum and others that don't do as much," said Raquel Filmanowicz, a spokeswoman for the city Health Department. "There's a clear disparity, and the kids are the ones who lose out."
Take fourth-grade MPS teacher Sally Krueger. When one of her children asks an explicit question about sex, she usually suggests the child ask his or her parent instead.
"Safety stuff, I'm A-OK with teaching," Krueger said. "But physical concepts and mechanics? I don't want to be the only adult in my room when that discussion is happening."
Brett Fuller, the MPS curriculum specialist for health, physical education and drug-free schools, said that the plan is to first train all fourth-grade teachers on how to teach the new curriculum, and then eventually train teachers in other grades. The United Way of Greater Milwaukee has been eager to target fourth-graders in its plan to lower the city's teen birth rate by almost half in 2015, when those children will be at a reproductive age.
Milwaukee Health Commissioner Bevan Baker said the revisions to the MPS curriculum - which dismiss rote lecture in favor of skills-based learning and role-playing - mark the first time he's seen the district commit to making sure comprehensive information reaches all the students.
"This is a communitywide effort about science and anatomy, but also a cultural shift in the societal norm," Baker said. "The expectation of many is that it's OK by 15, 16 or 17 (years old) to have sexual relations with a 24-year-old. We need to go upstream and teach a better societal norm."
Districts shy away
Outside of Milwaukee, introducing sexual topics at younger grade levels has been a tough sell. Brookfield's Elmbrook School Board members are at a stalemate with an advisory committee, which recommended that the definition of oral sex should be introduced in eighth grade instead of 10th, said Melanie Stewart, the district's director of assessment and student learning.
The debate started in 2007, when sixth- and seventh-graders were to receive a new fact sheet defining oral sex and sexual intercourse. Critics said sixth and seventh grade was too soon for such information because few suburban youth were engaging in high-risk sexual behavior.
The Kenosha Unified School District has similarly shied away from some of the more controversial topics in its health classes. Even in high school, said Scott Lindgren, the district's coordinator of athletics, activities, health, physical education and recreation, nobody talks about oral sex or contracting infections from that behavior.
Lindgren said the lessons became based more on abstinence after a contentious revision of the coursework in 2004-'05, and that health education has been watered down at the middle-school level because of budget cuts.
"We may see repercussions from that in a few years," Lindgren said.
Jeff Weiss, the director of curriculum and instruction at Racine Unified Schools, said his district of 22,000 kids faces similar constraints.
"Not to say that this isn't important, but with No Child Left Behind, what gets measured is what we have to work on," Weiss said.
What's a parent's role?
Parents aren't always sure where to intervene. Tracy Snead, an alderman in Muskego with two sons in high school and college, still remembers when her youngest was in fourth grade. A letter came home from school asking her if she wanted to opt him out of the human growth and development lessons.
The content was "pretty heavy," Snead said, but she didn't want to opt out her son for fear he'd be singled out.
"I wanted to bring it up with him first, but I wasn't really ready," Snead said. "I remember talking about it with my husband and being like, 'You're the guy. You talk to him about it.' "
As sexual health issues have become more complex, it's unclear whether schools can or should distribute information parents may not be sharing.
Judy Gerrity, the project coordinator for wellness and prevention of teen pregnancy in MPS, said she doesn't know how far schools should take their roles.
"The focus for us is on reducing live births to teens," Gerrity said, which invariably leaves less time for discussing other information, such as the rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea that are on the rise among young people in Milwaukee.
"We worked on this for four days and that was enough," she said. "But this is why (the revisions) need a lot more input from a lot more people."
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