The Observation Deck

This letter was sent to me and the original author did give permission for me to post it here.

Dear Friends,

In the past few weeks it has come to my attention that Health Education is no longer being taught in Lakewood City Schools at the fifth grade level. A committee decided to discontinue teaching the subject because it is not in the state standards—that is the information doesn't make the test. In addition, some of the fifth grade teachers were uncomfortable teaching anatomy and physiology. A committee, therefore, decided that Lakewood’s children no longer needed to learn information that has been taught for decades. I'm sure each person that is receiving this e-mail remembers having this "talk" in school.

Health is part of the the middle school curriculum, but no one will confirm when or whether information about menstrual periods and why a girl need to wear deodorant at this time is taught. Although I've sent a couple of different queries, no one has responded. Please keep in mind that today, the normal age for a girl to start her period is between 9 and 13 years of age. The person who sat on the committee said this health information is presented in the 8th grade—too late to prepare most young people with an understanding of how their bodies work. Some schools did not have health education last year. The district was testing parental responses. Because there was no parental outcry, they’ve eliminated the subject from the curriculum; however, there was no parent letter sent, nor will there be. Failure to send the normal opting-out letter means that many parents did not know that the subject was eliminated. It may be that by not making an announcement, schools hoped the subject would just fade away.

I personally find this decision appalling. Puberty is part of the human condition, and it is a scary time for young people. Because parents are often uncomfortable discussing this subject, many avoid it altogether. The result is that children don't understand their bodies and that they are now capable of reproducing. I'm asking that if you are concerned as I am, you take take the time to drop a note to the office at your child's school or to send an e-mail through the district website. asklakewoodschools@lakewood.k12.oh.us <asklakewoodschools@lakewood.k12.oh.us> It can be as simple as " Is there going to be health education this year?" We need to show that we care if there is any chance of reversing this decision. The consequence of ignorance can quite literally destroy a child's life. Teaching young people the facts in a neutral setting gives all students accurate information. That is especially important for those who may have no other reliable source for these essential facts.

Please feel free to pass this on to anyone you may think is interested.

I agree with you Danielle that something should be taught in 4th or 5th grade to benefit the kids with irresponsible parents...

There are some great books on this topic.

My wife is going through one of them now with my 9 year old daughter.

American Girl Book - The Care and Keeping of You.

They have both found a lot of value in it.

I agree with you completely Ryan. When my oldest son was in 5th grade my husband sat down with him and discussed what would be taught to him in school. And this year our next oldest child is in 5th grade, we had planned to do the same thing, until we learned that they won't be teaching it in school. Really to our children it won't make a difference because we will teach them at home, but not all parents will and I think because the ramifications of children not being taught can be live changing and not in the good way. I do hope the district reverses their decision. Thanks for your input.

I've been amazed at the response from this. It seems as if we can't teach this subject because we do not have highly qualified teachers in this subject. Neither does anyone else though because it is not part of the testing for elementary teachers. In effect, if how this is being interpreted is correct, no child can have Health Education until they are in Middle School or Junior High in the state of Ohio. We've been contacting surrounding districts to see how they are addressing this issue. The pleasing part is that other districts are addressing this issue. Not one said they were not offering health education at the elementary level. They just got creative. Now we just need to work with the school district to see what can be done in Lakewood.

This is appalling.

There are so many kids that are not taught these things at home and it's so important that the information gets to them.

There's no reason why a science teacher shouldn't be able to handle this.
A general teacher should be able to handle teaching this also, as long as a curriculum has been provided.

I like the "Our Whole Lives" program that was co-developed by the Unitarian-Universalist Church and the United Church of Christ. It isn't faith-based education but more along the lines of "life-span" education that addresses sexuality from Kindergarten to Grade 12. It is neat stuff. We did some of this with our church and found it to be a neat program. Sexuality education starts the first time kids need to know the names of the parts of their bodies and goes from there. Sexuality has a lot more to do than "anatomy" lessons, that's for sure. It isn't a "here is what happens" bit from an early age. It is more about becoming comfortable with your own body, knowing what parts are what and what they are called and moving on from there. The values taught are: 1) Self Worth 2) Sexual Health 3)Responsibility and 4) Justice and Inclusivity.

This would be a good model for our school district to adapt, I would think. When taught as a part of church, there are religion-specific sub-sections to it that can be added but the core material is religion-free.

Here is the UUA's (my faith of choice) website about it but there is a ton of good info out there. Nice place to start, I would think. Great for parents, too.

http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/c ... /ourwhole/

Good letter, Danielle. Thanks for sharing.

We know UCC folks at Pilgrim Congregational UCC (Tremont) who teach "Our Whole Lives" and it is a great program.

Maybe parents can ask around to see if any local churches offer it...

Phil, thanks for the links, that sounds like a phenomenal program.

We did find out today that the program was revamped and that the 6th grade health teachers will be teaching a basic maturation unit, although they aren't sure exactly how it will be done. While we still think the unit would be best taught in elementary school and that boys and girls should be taught separately we are grateful that it is being taught in 6th grade rather than 8th grade as we were originally told.

I'm happy to say that the Lakewood Community came together on this and if all went as planned tonight at the Board of ed meeting Health Education will be back in the fifth grade. All children will be taught about puberty in a safe setting before middle school. Great work everyone!!!

Thanks to Toni and Mona who lead the way on this. We had a wonderful meeting last week that led to the administration taking another look at this issue. So now not only will this be taught in 5th grade it will also be taught in 6th grade. Another thing that this issue has highlighted is that the community and the administration can come together and do what is best for the children. Thanks to everyone involved.

I had to go through that section of health class during fifth grade at Roosevelt Elementary. Highlights included a trip to this museum. The museum featured various reproductive organs in jars of formaldehyde. There were also bisected fetuses preserved in formaldehyde or something. They looked real.

There was also a great movie. These kids from New York are growing up. One of the guys dad tries to give The Talk. He gave a really great baseball analogy. Then the kids went to a Zoo to stare at the animals. They start talking about the animals and a janitor starts talking to them. "I've seen a lot of animals" he tells them. I hope they are still showing this movie.

Apparently they do show an old film strip, I do wonder if it's the same one I saw as a kid.

And many of the schools do still go on a field trip to the health museum. The one thing that I am happy about is that the children will all be taught approximately the same program which is so different from how it use to be where each school basically created their own program. This really is a positive improvement.