‘Why do we need to change?’ Concerned parents protest state comprehensive sex ed bill

More than 100 people protested a statewide comprehensive sex education bill outside the Spokane Public Schools administration building Wednesday afternoon in conjunction with a planned state Capitol protest.

Signs carried by protesters decried government overreach, infringement of parents’ rights and the loss of children’s innocence.

Alisse Metge, who helped organize the protest, said she hopes their action will inspire Gov. Jay Inslee to veto the bill approved by the state Senate over the weekend.

The legislation calls for age-appropriate courses to teach about affirmative consent and the consequences of sexual activity, according to Sen. Claire Wilson, D-Auburn, the bill’s sponsor.

Students would be required to take one sexual health information course approved by the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction between kindergarten and third grade, another between fourth and fifth grade, two between grades six and eight and two more between grades nine and 12.

Republican state senators said they have concerned constituents who were left out of the process of developing the bill and selecting OSPI’s curriculum.

A Facebook group of local parents worried about the bill has grown to nearly 4,000 members since it was created about a week ago, Metge said. Some who attended the protest pulled their children out of school for the afternoon to attend.

Metge said the sex education her other two children are receiving in the Central Valley School District is effective. But she opted her daughter Ruth out of the FLASH curriculum taught at East Valley High, which was developed by King County public health officials.

Ruth Metge, an East Valley High School freshman, said she has experienced how detailed instruction about intercourse can lead to inappropriate hallway chitchat that can be quite distracting.

“It’s kind of a part of school culture,” Ruth Metge said.

Instead of providing such distracting information, she said schools should only teach abstinence when it comes to sex.

Her mother said school districts, not state officials, should choose a curriculum with parental input that reflects the general values of the community. Parents who approve of most of the curriculum could then opt their children out of the portions they believe are too graphic. She acknowledged that not all families have the same values, and there are public health concerns related to sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy for those not choosing abstinence.

“We really want to save public education from this kind of culture change,” Alisse Metge said. “It’s difficult to opt out of a culture that you’re in all day.”

Jessica Watt, who has two children in the Mead School District, said she couldn’t be happier with the district’s opposition to the planned changes to sex education. The district’s board said in a letter to Inslee that it unanimously opposed the bill.

Watt said she doesn’t think some parts of the proposed curriculum are age-appropriate and that local school districts should remain in full control. Right now, her young children are learning about anatomy and appropriate touching. Any talk about sex should come later and in the home, she said.

“You teach it as it comes,” Watt said about instruction around sex, noting that what is age-appropriate is different from family to family.

“We have a great program already,” fellow Mead parent Jennifer Killman said. “Why do we need to change?”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify comments made my Alisse Metge, the mother of Ruth Metge, about teaching abstinence only in sex ed.