A meeting of the Williams Unified School District No. 2 Governing Board Sex Education Advisory Committee was held at 6:00 p.m. on the above date at the Williams Elementary Middle School Conference Room located at 601 N. 7^th Street, Williams, Arizona. Committee members present:  Sandy Roe, Chairperson, Dixit Patel, Ladena Dennison, Nell Brown, Doris Ann Mertz, Teresa Chavez and Kali Kalechi.  Also present:  Beth Britton, WUSD staff member.

COMMITTEE MEETING

The agenda for the meeting is as follows:

I.              OPENING ITEMS

Ø       Sandy Roe, Chairperson, opened the meeting at 6:13 pm and led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance

Ø       Sandy called for the Agenda to be adopted. 

Ø       Nell Brown moved that the agenda be adopted as submitted. The motion was seconded and approved.

II.            DISCSSION

A.      Does the abstinence education curriculum comply with District Policy IHAMB?

Ø       The committee agreed by consensus that the curriculum complies with District Policy.   

B.       Present suggestions for adding or excluding information from curriculum.

Ø       Sandy asked for suggestions. 

Ø       Although Board Ex Officio member of the Committee, Janet Cothren, was unable to attend the meeting, she relayed some questions for consideration by the committee:

                        1.  Does the curriculum address the financial responsibility of parenting?

                        2.  Does the curriculum address the laws relating to sexual conduct with a minor?

                        3.  Are consequences, such as the emotional/psychological consequences of teen sexual activity

                             explained in the curriculum? 

                        4.  Are STD’s and HIV addressed in the curriculum according to policy?

Ø       In response to all of these questions, the committee believes that the curriculum does meet the criteria.  However, Doris Ann Mertz notes that puberty information is needed as early as the 5^th grade. If approval for 5^th graders to have puberty education cannot be given, then maybe parents could allow their child to view a film shortly after school is out, it was suggested. A committee member noted that the videos to be shown as part of this curriculum are not explicitly sexual and are interviews with youth focusing on decisions about alcohol use and the connection to date rape, relationships, etc.

Ø       Dixit Patel suggested that children need to know legal rights about sexual issues and, if a teen does become a parent, what the laws are about their responsibility as a parent.  Youth need to know what it costs to be a parent.

Ø       Sandy noted that the emphasis of the curriculum is on abstinence, but it is broader than that.  The Arizona Youth Partnership Grant will provide the materials and staff to implement the program.

Ø       When asked by Sandy if the curriculum is appropriate for students within the Williams District, the committee responded in the affirmative.  Sandy noted that HIV information is included in the curriculum along with information on STD’s.  Doris said the curriculum being reviewed covers it at every grade level. 

Ø       The committee noted that an individual student evaluation may not be recorded after youth receive the training.  Plans for implementing the curriculum are to start with grades 7, 8, and 9.  Jaren Hudgens, a member of the committee who could not attend, asked that her comments be recognized.  Jaren reviewed the curriculum and stated that it aligns with the Arizona Health Curriculum Standards.  She noted that because boys and girls must be separated and only those youth whose parents have opted in may participate in the program, it would be helpful to have another teacher through Arizona Youth Partnership to provide instruction at another site.  She noted that she uses two sites; one site could be used for this program.  Jaren would like to implement the curriculum as part of Basic Health at WEMS.

Ø       Kali Kaliche, representing WEMS Site Council, mentioned that the curriculum needs to be reviewed by both school Site Councils before it is approved by the Governing Board.  Kali suggested that Sandy contact David Miggins, WEMS Site Council Chair, as well as a member of the WHS Site Council, about presenting this information at their next meeting.

Ø       The group discussed the need for Health Education in all grade levels, particularly as youth enter puberty and don’t understand how to take care of their bodies.

Ø       The curriculum has no religious affiliation.

Ø       The curriculum should define exploitation and abuse of children, one committee member said.

III.           ACTION ITEM

A.        Approve Minutes from the meeting on January 15, 2008

Ø       Nell moved that the minutes be approved as submitted.  The motion was seconded and approved.

B.        Does the committee believe that Williams USD#2 has a valid need for Sex Education? 

Ø       By consensus, the committee, said, “Yes.”

C.        Does the committee wish to recommend this abstinence curriculum to the Governing Board?

Ø       Doris Ann moved that the AZYP Abstinence Education curriculum be recommended to the Governing Board for 6^th -12^th graders as long as the process meets Arizona/Governing Board criteria:

                  1) An “Opt-In” provision for parents of 6-8^th grades;

                  2) An “Opt-Out” provision for parents of 9-12^th graders;

                  3) The presenters include information about the laws related to sex with a minor, HIV/STD’s,

                       consequences of teen sexual activity, e.g., emotional/psychological, and;

                  4) Financial responsibility of parenting.

Ø       The motion was seconded and approved.

D.        Develop and approve wording for recommendation to Governing Board.

Ø       It was unanimously decided that Sandy will write the final document for submission to the Governing Board that will include the criteria approved in Action Item C.

E.         Select committee representative to present the recommendation to the Board on February 13, 2008.

Ø       Doris Ann moved that Nell present the recommendation to the Board. The motion was seconded and approved.

IV.           ANNOUNCEMENTS

V.            ADJOURNMENT

Ø       Sandy called for a motion for adjournment.  Doris Ann moved the meeting be adjourned.  The motion was seconded and approved. 

Ø       The meeting ended at 7:20 pm.