The Department of Education will again review Pono Choices after complaints from a state House lawmaker and several parents that the sex education curriculum is medically inaccurate and not age-appropriate for middle-schoolers.
The department informed the state Board of Education on Tuesday that it is in the final stages of putting together a working group of educators, medical and public health professionals, parents and community leaders to review the curriculum.
Pono Choices, a pilot program at 12 schools, had been placed on hold by the department in late November after the curriculum was condemned by religious conservatives during the debate over gay marriage at the state Legislature. The department lifted the hold in December after concluding that the content is medically accurate and consistent with the department’s abstinence-based sex education policy.
While Pono Choices discusses abstinence, the curriculum also stresses condom use to prevent teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
State Rep. Bob McDermott (R, Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point) has complained that Pono Choices improperly defines the anus as a genital, a term usually reserved for reproductive organs. He also argues that the curriculum classifies anal sex with a condom as a low-risk behavior, which he believes dangerously minimizes the health risks of anal sex.
McDermott told the school board Tuesday that he did not object to 85 percent of the Pono Choices curriculum, but that 15 percent is unacceptable.
Several parents said they were revolted by the graphic nature of a curriculum meant for middle-schoolers who cannot legally consent to sex under state law.
Although parents can opt their children out of Pono Choices under the state’s controversial-issues policy, many parents said it would be more appropriate to opt their children into the instruction.
"There is no reason the school or anyone should be teaching any of our children how to have sex," said Grace Alarcio, a mother of four children. "This is being taught to 11-year-olds in our schools? This is an outrage. You’re supposed to be protecting our children, not harming them.
"This Pono Choices appears to normalize anal sex. It is not normal. In fact, it is very dangerous for medical reasons. Pono Choices also appears to normalize oral sex. It is not normal. Oral sex is actually very degrading.
"Both anal and oral sex is extremely harmful emotionally at any age. To promote this type of activity is absolutely wrong."
But Susan Roth, who described herself as Catholic and the mother of four children, including a gay son, said she would like all children treated equally.
"So I think we need to be maybe careful about what words we use," she said of Pono Choices, "but we need to respect all of our families in the public schools."
Don Horner, chairman of the school board, said sex education is not a federal or state requirement and is left to the discretion of the school board, which has chosen to focus the sex education policy on abstinence. He said the school board’s concern is student safety and described some of the health data as "quite alarming — surprisingly so."
According to the state Department of Health, Hawaii has the 12th-worst chlamydia rate and the 10th-highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation. A little more than half — 54 percent — of high school students reported using condoms the last time they had sexual intercourse, the lowest percentage of any state.
"Our goal is to have as many parents opt in so that we can ensure that our kids have the best information to make good decisions," Horner said after the board meeting.
Horner said he appreciated the parents who took the time to testify. "We represent the public," he said. "And that was the public voice."
