Should schools teach sexual education? Clovis Unified board candidates weigh in
Clovis Unified School District board candidate Joanne Burton says educators often have an agenda that includes teaching students about “inappropriate sexual content” and gender identity — and that she’s the only candidate in the November election talking about the issue.
“I have listened to the other three candidates running for the (Area 1) seat,” Burton, a real estate agent who’s lived in Clovis since 2016, said at a Meet Your Candidate event on Oct. 13. “Not one of them mentions transparency in our education. They just don’t seem to know there’s a problem.”
The field of four running for the vacant Area 1 seat includes parent and communications consultant Samantha Bauer, Burton, parent and business executive Chuck Der Manouel and parent and nonprofit executive Clint Olivier.
For Burton, transparency means parents having a voice in the selection and implementation of the district’s curriculum, especially lessons related to controversial topics.
Der Manouel has also called for “transparency” in the CUSD curriculum, saying it should be readily accessible to parents. Bauer has said the district is already forthcoming about its curriculum. Olivier said in a statement to The Bee’s Education Lab that he has no response to Burton’s allegations or her assertion that he and other candidates aren’t addressing parents’ access to curriculum.
According to the district, parents are involved in textbook selection, offered opportunities to review curriculum and materials used in classrooms, and encouraged to communicate with their children’s teachers about their education.
Clovis candidates weigh in on school curriculum
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The Bee’s Education Lab attended an Oct. 3 candidate forum hosted by the Clovis Chamber of Commerce, during which candidates were asked about schools’ roles in teaching topics such as sex education and health, like AIDS. Olivier did not attend the forum.
Burton said that lessons about those topics should reflect the ideals of individual families.
“We need to protect our children and let them be children,” she said. “If they’re exposed to inappropriate information, it can be damaging and confusing for them.”
Burton wants to form a group of retired teachers, parents and grandparents to review curriculum.
A process to review and monitor curriculum will “preserve the innocence of our children,” she said.
Der Manouel said parents — and not the school district — should teach students about topics such as sex education.
He said the curriculum’s “agenda” is drifting away from the biology of sex education and is including the social aspects, which he opposes.
“I don’t want any creeping of gender ideology or pronouns into our schools,” Der Manouel said. “That’s not the place of the schools.”
“There has to be transparency in what the curriculum provides,” he said. “Our curriculum should be where our parents can access it.”
Gender ideology refers to what most define as appropriate roles of women and men in society. It’s different from gender identity, in which individuals use gender pronouns or non-gender pronouns to identify themselves.
Bauer said CUSD already provides the transparency that some candidates say the district lacks. She pointed to the district’s curriculum preview nights.
“Any parent can see exactly what our children are seeing,” Bauer said. “We need to continue to make sure that parents have that opportunity.”
She said sexual behavior should not be taught in the classroom, but sexual health, including AIDS, should be taught from a scientific standpoint.
Although Burton wasn’t referring to the two Area 6 candidates when she said candidates are not aware of the CUSD curriculum, retired business owner Bill Whitmore and parent and teacher Deena Combs-Flores also had the opportunity to respond to the question about what topics belong in the CUSD curriculum.
Whitmore didn’t respond to numerous emails and hasn’t attended any candidate forums.
Combs-Flores, speaking at the Oct. 3 event, said she believes that “parents should parent in the home.”
“Moral, ethical, social and political matters — those belong in the home,” she said. “The job of an educator is to teach reading, writing and arithmetic. I am a math teacher, by profession, and I think we should be teaching academics.”
Combs-Flores acknowledges that there is legislation and curriculum that teachers must abide by and follow, but she said she doesn’t agree with many of these mandates.
Clovis Unified policy on controversial issues
Clovis Unified respects the important role parents play in their children’s education and the importance of curriculum that is aligned to California’s content standards, CUSD spokesperson Kelly Avants said in an emailed statement.
The Clovis Unified school board has a policy on controversial issues, including issues based on personal values and beliefs, political philosophy, culture, religion, or other influences.
According to the policy, the board believes that considering controversial issues has “a legitimate place” in school instruction.
“(If) properly introduced and conducted, the consideration of such issues can help students learn to identify important issues, explore fully and fairly all sides of an issue, weigh carefully the values and factors involved, and develop techniques for formulating and evaluating positions,” the policy says.
The issue must be relevant for the course and students’ age and maturity. Class instruction must be “balanced, addressing all sides of the issue without bias or prejudice and without promoting any particular point of view.”
The board updated that policy in late October, adding clauses that say district staff — who must act on behalf of the district — must “not advocate their personal opinion or viewpoint” in leading or guiding classroom discussions.
That includes displaying items that reflect their personal views on politics, religion, social movements and personal ethics.
“We are obligated to present content with neutrality of opinion and take great strides to ensure that the learning environment in our classrooms is free of bias toward any given social or political movement,” Avants said. “We develop our own curriculum so that the delivery of those standards reflects our local community, and we go to great lengths to engage parents in the academic journey of their child.”
The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab at its website.
This story was originally published November 5, 2022 at 7:39 AM with the headline "Should schools teach sexual education? Clovis Unified board candidates weigh in."
