Lewis Palmer School District Won't Teach New Sex Education Law
MONUMENT, Colo. (CBS4)- One school district along the Front Range says it will not follow a new law about how sex education is taught in Colorado schools. Lawmakers passed the controversial measure this past session.
As controversial as House Bill 19-1032 was in January when it was introduced, it should come as no surprise that as a law, not all Colorado communities have embraced it.
School administrators with Lewis Palmer School District 38 have announced they won't follow the law because they don't want state lawmakers telling them how to teach their kids.
"We like how it currently works so we are going to leave it alone," said District 38 School Board Member Mark Pfoff.
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Alison Macklin is the Vice President of Education for Planned Parenthood and says she thinks Colorado's previous law was incomplete. That's why she supports the new sex education law. She said the new law makes sure sex-ed is taught comprehensively including information about consent, contraception other than abstinence and LGBTQ relationships, and that if this comprehensive approach isn't something school districts want, then they don't have to teach sex-ed at all.
"Really who is losing out is the young people," said Macklin. "We believe that everyone should have access to this information and really it's written onto the law that is you don't want young people to have this information you don't have to teach it."
Still, the district says, if it isn't broke. don't fix it. They don't think their curriculum is broken.
"Are our kids coming out of school right now broken because we haven't been doing this? I think our kids have done wonderful," said Pfoff.