In Evelyn Resh’s May 28 column (“When it comes to sexual health care, radical acceptance goes a long way”), the clinician bemoans the negative approach to talking about sexuality, which contributes collectively to “low sexual literacy and limited sexual self-advocacy skills.”
Having practiced for nearly four decades, Resh notes that talking about sex often and openly is the safest — and perhaps only — way to gain such knowledge and skills. On June 3, the state’s Joint Committee on Education discussed two bills that would, if passed, encourage more open and frequent talk about sexuality in public schools.
Public schools serve as critical socializing institutions, where students can learn how to talk and think about sexuality honestly and respectfully. The proposed bills — H410, the Healthy Youth Act, and H427, an act relative to providing health education in schools — mandate that comprehensive sexuality education focus on consent and healthy relationships, and be inclusive and medically accurate.
Distressingly, very few public schools in the commonwealth offer this type of sexuality education for our youngest learners. However, the Pelham Elementary School community is working to demonstrate that early and consistent sexuality education can form common ground for students to develop prosocial skills and healthy behaviors throughout their primary, middle, and high school years. Recognizing a lack of consistent sexuality education programming in the Amherst-Pelham Regional Public Schools, Pelham Elementary sought to create a program addressing gender, sexuality, communication, consent, and inclusivity in developmentally appropriate and medically accurate ways.
The result was the Sexuality and Gender Empowerment and Education (SGEE) Curriculum, which was recently implemented in Pelham’s K-2 classrooms and which now serves as a model sexuality education curriculum. Projected outcomes of SGEE include: improved mental and social health for diverse students; mutual respect; body ownership and acceptance; understanding consent and boundaries across relationships; and recognizing and including diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.
As a school community, we enthusiastically support H410 and H427, while recognizing that progress toward comprehensive sexuality education can (and should) begin now in individual schools that value the urgent need for it.
Jenny Franz, Aline Gubrium, Nicole Black and Brad Arndt
Pelham Elementary School PTO