Lita-Marie Townsend, supervisor for the "Responsible Sexual Behavior" sex education program for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, spoke at an event Thursday on Capitol Hill about the success of the program that has been in the public schools since 2006. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)
(CNSNews.com) – A sex ed administrator with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District says that half of the “Responsible Sexual Behavior” classes for 9th and 10th grade students are taught by Planned Parenthood personnel.

"Planned Parenthood is one of our partners that teaches about 50 percent of our 9th and 10th graders,” Lita-Marie Townsen told CNSNews.com. She made the comment at an event on Capitol Hill last week where sex education activists pushed for federal funding of programs that do not focus solely on marriage and heterosexual couples. 

The event, sponsored by the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), the National Education Association, and Healthy Teen Network, included Townsend as a panelist. Organizer said she could speak about the progress of comprehensive sex education programs in public schools “on the ground.”
 
The 9th and 10th graders in Cleveland’s public schools learn from a curriculum called “Safer Choices,” which covers several topics, including:
 
-- Discuss your relationship to and responsibility in the community, including enhancing personal health.
-- Distinguish agencies that can come to the aid of individuals in need.
-- Distinguish between effective techniques to avoid spreading HIV and AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, including abstinence and effective, consistent condom use.
 
Townsend told CNSNews.com that Planned Parenthood is one of 20 agencies named as medical resources in a handout given to students.
 
“We do include them, but the trade-off is we have to include all the clinics in Cleveland that have services for free or on a sliding scale,” Townsend told CNSNews.com.
 
Literature distributed at the event about the Cleveland sex education curriculum states that the K-12 Responsible Sexual Behavior Education Initiative was approved by the school board in 2002 as part of a Comprehensive Health Plan.
 
Barbara Byrd Bennett, CEO of the Cleveland school district, said she wants the plan, which also sets goals for immunizations, substance abuse, overweight/obesity and physical activity, to be a “national model.”
 
The “Responsible Sexual Behavior” sex education program begins in kindergarten with the “All About Life” curriculum, which is taught through 3rd grade.
 
Kindergarteners are asked to define the word “family,” identify family members and relationships with family members, explain how families are alike/different and “describe the difference between good and bad touch.”
 
First graders are asked to define the term “feeling,” and “physical, emotional and sexual abuse.”
 
In 2nd grade, students are asked to define “friend” and “bully” and to “identify ways of getting along with people.”
 
Third graders are asked to define “puberty,” “self-esteem,” and “appropriate touch.”
 
The “F.L.A.S.H.” program for grades four, five and six includes students being asked to “identify common gender stereotypes” and “identify who is at risk for HIV/AIDS and other STDs, and how disease transmission can be prevented, including abstinence and consistent, correct condom use.”
 
The “Making Proud Choices” program for 7th and 8th graders includes information about STDs and HIV/AIDS and “sexual coercion and acquaintance rape.”
 
William Smith, vice president for public policy at SIECUS, said that he and other groups like his were on Capitol Hill to push for federal funding for a sex education curriculum in public schools like the one in Cleveland.
 
“It’s all about resources,” Smith said. “These programs work. Public health is behind them. Schools want to do it. Politicians want to step up to the plate with the courage to get it done.
 
“But they need money, and that’s why we’re here on Capitol Hill today,” Smith said. “Because there are bills pending before the Congress that will provide the money for Cleveland and other school districts to scale this work up and get it done, but the resources are vital.”
 
An evaluation of the Cleveland “Responsible Sexual Behavior Education Initiative” distributed at the event said that “facilitators from six contracted agencies and 11 trained (school district) health and physical education teachers taught ‘modified versions’” of the curriculum to 26,326 students in kindergarten through 12th grade during the 2007-2008 school year.
 
According to its 2007-2008 annual report, Planned Parenthood received $349.6 million in federal grants and contracts that year.