Advertisement Public has plenty to say at OPS board meeting about proposed sex ed curriculum changes Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Omaha Public Schools' conversation regarding sexual education continued Monday, and the message one opposing group is sending out is big and blunt.The OPS school board met Monday night with the district presenting its proposal of sexual education changes. The district expected a big crowd to voice their opinion.People poured into the Administrative Center near 30th and Cuming for the meeting. It's been 30 years since the OPS sex education curriculum has been updated. Both the district and school board members told KETV NewsWatch 7 it's due for an upgrade, but others said it isn't good for the children."When you look at the history of comprehensive sex education, it comes straight out of a mentality of sexual freedom," Maris Bentley, a volunteer with Save Nebraska Children, said.Save Nebraska Children is an organization that paid for advertisements displayed on a mobile digital billboard before Monday's discussion.Bentley said that as a former teacher and school counselor in central Nebraska, she worries about how children are really taking in what's being taught."It's not appropriate for children and it's really ideologically driven," she said.However, the school district said there's no agenda behind what's being taught and the changes for this fall."What we're proposing tonight is to include LGBT as well as current information on STDs, HIV AIDS, as well as healthy decision making abstinence and contraception," OPS Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum Instruction and Assessment Dr. ReNae Kehrberg said.Kehrberg oversees OPS curriculum and said abstinence will always be the backbone of sex ed for the district. Classes will continue to include education on protection, sexual harassment and abuse, then it will be up to the school board on whether to include abortion and emergency contraception."Not every parent is going to know what to talk about, so it's up to the school district to make sure that if a parent doesn't feel safe enough to educate their kid about sex ed, they have an opportunity to opt their kid into this subject or opt their kid out," OPS board member Marque Snow said.Fourty-five people asked to be heard Monday night, and each was able to speak for five minutes. A heavy majority shared an opinion on sex ed changes.OPS proposes the addition of topics such as gender identity, biological sex and sexual orientation. It also could add lessons on reproductive prevention, such as condoms, birth control and abortion.During the first hour of the meeting, 16 people spoke, nearly all connected to a community organization with interest in the board's decision.In the end, the school board will have final say on any and all changes to the sex education curriculum. The school district stresses there will be no Planned Parenthood curriculum, and once the curriculum is decided, parents will be able to see it on the district website. The board will have a final vote on Jan. 20th, and changes will be implemented in the fall.