Letter angers school administrators

Letter angers school administrators

BELLEVILLE - A letter mailed to the parents of students of children at South Middle School by an opponent of a proposed sex education program has raised the ire of school administrators.

A revised sex education class for middle school students will be presented and discussed at a public hearing at 7 p.m. Dec. 13 at the Belleville High School cafeteria.

Superintendent James Richendollar said the letter, sent by Robert Sawyer, is inappropriate and misleading. 

The letter refers to a former sex education curriculum that was taught to sixth graders about two years ago. After concerns were raised about the explicit nature of the class, the district established a committee to create a new curriculum.

Sawyer said he has documentation for everything that is mentioned in the letter. The old curriculum did include many of the things mentioned in the letter, including a description of sexual intercourse, masturbation and a display of birth control devices.

It is important to know about what the past curriculum included because many of the same people who developed the old curriculum are on the new committee, Sawyer said.

But Richendollar said the new curriculum is substantially changed.

“I’m very very proud of the curriculum. It’s an abstinence-based program,” Richendollar said.