Scarborough school staff will discuss the district’s health curriculum during the Board of Education’s workshop meeting tonight (Thursday), a presentation that is expected to primarily focus on how the district teaches sexual education.

The workshop, to be held at Town Hall at 7:30 p.m., will provide board members with a better idea of what is currently taught in the district and how it is taught. The board requested the meeting after receiving complaints regarding the district’s sex education classes.

Last spring a number of parents complained to the board about the middle school teaching condom use in class, a lesson that involved demonstrations. Parents also objected to classroom use of sexual slang, which they felt made their children uncomfortable.

Many of those critical of the district’s sex education classes feel that the district should use an abstinence-based curriculum employed by Heritage of Maine and have encouraged the district to explore the program.

Mary Schiavoni, president of Heritage of Maine, gave a brief presentation about the program to the Scarborough Rotary Club Tuesday morning. She told the group that a character-based sex education program stressing abstinence is the only way to keep teens truly safe from getting any number of sexually transmitted diseases.

“We’re very much a risk avoidance program,” she said. “We want to get out and teach them character. We want to preserve them and keep them healthy.”

According to Schiavoni, one in four sexually active teens has contracted some type of sexually transmitted disease; 20 percent of sexually active teens 12 and older have herpes, and the human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted disease believed to cause cervical cancer, in growing at an “astounding” rate.

“There actually is a bona fide epidemic in the US today,” she said.

That is one reason why current programs teaching students about abstinence while also discussing contraceptives, risk management and risk reduction are outdated.

“We know right now that a mixed message doesn’t work,” Schiavoni said.

Heritage of Maine is funded by a three-year grant and is offering the eight-hour program free to schools. The program includes specially trained teachers and teaching materials. Schiavoni said Heritage of Maine is not looking to replace the health curriculum, but is trying to incorporate itself into what the school is already doing.

So far interest has been slow and the organization’s instructors have taught it in about three public schools, she said, adding that interest from faith-based schools is a bit stronger. So far about 2,000 teens and 1,300 parents have participated in the program in some fashion and have been satisfied with the experience.

“The response we’re getting from teenagers is absolutely wonderful,” she said.

While the school board has not made any decision about using the Heritage of Maine curriculum in classes, the school administration does not recommend it.

Superintendent Bill Michaud said the program now used by the district, in which sex education plays a small role, is comprehensive, provides students with pertinent information and fulfills state requirements.

In addition, it is unusual for a district to allow an outside organization to instruct a school’s students, Michaud said. He said the only similar arrangement now in place in Scarborough is the DARE program, which he said is still not the same situation.

Thursday’s school board meeting will allow public comment, but the board will not make any decisions on the issue. Representatives of Heritage of Maine will be allowed to speak about the program during this portion of the meeting, although they are not formally on the agenda.

Mary Schiavoni, president of Heritage of Maine, discussing her program with the Scarborough Rotary Club.

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