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Saline Area Schools announced Monday, May 22 it will abandon plans to work with Planned Parenthood on sex education curriculum.

(MLive file photo)

SALINE, MI - Saline Area Schools no longer will work with Planned Parenthood on its sex education curriculum, saying the partnerships proved "too divisive" for the community.

The Saline Area Schools Sex Education Advisory Council held a public hearing on May 15 regarding proposed changes to the high school sex education curriculum, which included having Planned Parenthood train students as peer educators to lead lessons on contraceptive methods and LGBTQ issues.

A second public hearing was scheduled for May 30, but the school district announced Monday, May 22 that the hearing is canceled and Saline Schools will not be working with Planned Parenthood.

"Based on reviewing the comment/question cards, the discussion that took place at the first hearing on May 15th, analyzing survey data, and talking to people in the community, it is very apparent that moving forward with any Planned Parenthood connected curriculum, at this time, would be too divisive in the Saline Area Schools," states an email sent to Saline families by Steve Laatsch, assistant superintendent of instruction.

Instead of a formal public hearing on the proposed curriculum changes, there is a "community conversation" at 6 p.m. May 30 at the Liberty School media center. The conversation will cover topics like how to allow for peer-to-peer conversation within health classes; how to respect all opinions, views and values related to sex education, and how to integrate lessons that educate students on risks specific to LGBTQ students, such as bullying.

Laatsch and Mary Beno, Washtenaw and Livingston County educational health coordinator, will lead the conversation. Planned Parenthood representatives are not invited to attend.

Saline Area Schools also is accepting applications for the Sex Education Advisory Council, and the deadline to apply is May 31.

Planned Parenthood has worked with Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Milan and Dexter public schools as well as Greenhills School and Washtenaw International High School to provide training for peer educators, said Ruth Lednicer, director of media and communications at Planned Parenthood of Michigan.

Lednicer said in an earlier email to The Ann Arbor News that "All our Sex Education work is based on CDC recommended, medically accurate, age appropriate information."