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Sunday, October 30, 2011

Sex education -Schools dial down most graphic part of curriculum

Shenia Rudolph and her 12-year-old twins, Capri and Coby Brown, in their Bronx home on Saturday, October 29, 2011. Rudolph says she’s glad the city made sex ed less explicit for younger kids.

Shenia Rudolph and her 12-year-old twins, Capri and Coby Brown, in their Bronx home on Saturday, October 29, 2011. Rudolph says she’s glad the city made sex ed less explicit for younger kids.

The city Education Department has X-ed out racy content from its recommended sexual education curriculum .

The redacted parts include flash cards for middle school kids explaining various sex acts, such as anal sex, oral sex and mutual masturbation.

"We thought it was not age-appropriate for 11- and 12-year-olds," said Education Department spokeswoman Natalie Rivets, adding that the edited texts have been voluntarily used by city schools since 2007.

Starting in January, the city will require one semester of sex ed in sixth or seventh grade and one in ninth or 10th grade.

Schools have their choice of curriculum about the birds and the bees, but the city recommends a program called HealthSmart and another titled Reducing the Risk.

The Education Department provides the programs to schools for free if they send teachers for training. Last school year, 43% of public high schools reported voluntarily using the city's recommended HealthSmart sex ed textbooks and 64% of middle schools used the books.

Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said using the HealthSmart curriculum will reduce the risk of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases .

"A significant percentage of our teenagers have had multiple sexual partners, so we can't stick our heads in the sand about this," said Walcott.

Shenia Rudolph, who serves as vice president of the parent association at Middle School 391 in the Bronx, supports the city's decision to cut explicit passages from HealthSmart.

"You need to be cautious in describing anything to a minor. I believe in being not too graphic," said Rudolph, whose son and daughter, Coby and Capri Brown, attend sixth and seventh grades at Middle School 391.

Others say the cuts don't go far enough.

An advocacy group called NYC Parents Choice is pushing the city to offer an option for sex ed that focuses solely on abstinence and leaves out explicit lessons entirely. By its count, the high school version of HealthSmart mentions abstinence just 90 times and birth control, including condoms, 230 times.

"The same way they're offering charter schools and traditional public schools - we're only asking something similar - parent choice," said NYC Parents Choice executive director Michael Benjamin. 

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