WHY IS A COMMUNITY HG&D PROGRAM NEEDED
IN CEDARBURG?
The Human Growth & Development Program Offered By The Cedarburg School District Is Not Adequate
In Spring 2012, the Cedarburg School Board adopted a new Human Growth & Development (HG&D) curriculum for 7th, 8th and 9th graders (HG&D was formerly called "sex ed"). It is very different from what was taught in the past. This program, entitled Choosing the Best, was the choice of four members of the Cedarburg School Board. It was chosen over the objections of many educators, pediatricians, professionals, and parents in the district. Click on "Timeline" in the site menu for more information on how Choosing the Best was adopted.
Why are educators, pediatricians, professionals and parents concerned about the content of this new curriculum?
Choosing the Best suggests that any sexual activity outside of marriage leaves a person dirty, damaged, guilty, shamed and incapable of healthy relationships. It provides incomplete information about contraceptives and STDS. It provides only negative information relative to contraceptives. This incomplete information is misleading and puts our children at risk. For additional details about the objectionable qualities of the curriculum, click on the various links about Choosing the Best in the site menu.
Developing A Program To Educate Young Teens To Guide Them Now and In The Future
After the Cedarburg School District adopted the new Choosing the Best program, many parents were concerned about how they would now go about finding appropriate and comprehensive health information to educate their children and prepare them to deal with human growth and development issues not only as teens, but also as young adults.
Professionals, parents and community members came together to develop and offer a human growth and development program that would provide an environment in which teens could ask questions and receive information so that our students will know the facts, understand the consequences of their actions and prepare these young teens to handle all of the information that they may come across out in the real world. Knowledge is power. We want our teens to have all the knowledge available so that they can make good educated choices for themselves both as teens and as young adults. The culmination of these concerns resulted in the community offered program of "REAL" HG&D - Responsibly Educating Adolescents for Life.
What If I don't want my child to participate in the Cedarburg School District HG&D Program?
Every parent or guardian of a 7th, 8th and 9th grader in the Cedarburg School District can and should educate themselves on the Choosing the Best program. You should decide whether or not you want your teen to hear the messages delivered in this program.
Parents of all 7th, 8th and 9th graders in the Cedarburg public schools completed the opt in/out form when you registered your student for school this summer. If you elected for your child to participate in the schools' program, but upon further research here you decide that you do not agree with the misleading information or the shame-and-risk approach to encouraging teens to choose abstinence, you can still make the decision to opt-or-elect your child out of the program. Just contact your child's school to complete a new opt in/out form.
The district program is taught at Webster Middle School in January. The HG&D program is taught at CHS at the end of the semester in Health class. Even if you have already completed this form, you may contact the school office at any time to elect your child out of the Choosing the Best program.