The Potlatch school board voted unanimously Wednesday night to remove Planned Parenthood-endorsed sex education from its schools. The decision appears to have been prompted by parents in the community who opposed the radical sex education program and pressured the board to act.
Previously, students could be put into the class without parental consent. Going forward, the Potlatch school board plans to adopt an opt-in policy requiring parental consent before students are given sexuality instruction.
The board first approved the curriculum, known as Reducing the Risk (RTR), in 2016. The RTR is designed for high school students but was serving eighth graders in Potlatch Middle School. The RTR curriculum includes instructing students in gender identity, transgender ideology, abortion, sex toys, mutual masturbation, and promotes high risk sexual activities including anal sex.
The Potlatch school board had previously made an agreement with the North Central Health District to teach RTR. The North Central Health District pushed additional graphic material into the RTR program, as we have explained here, here, and here.
Idaho North Central Health District’s website, for instance, offered educators training on queering education and porn literacy. Another resource took kids to Power to Decide, showing kids where to get an abortion. Another resource, Love is Respect, showed kids how to hide their browsing history from parents and introduced topics like polyamory and gender transitions. The Sex, Etc. resource showed students articles such as Transgender Men Can Get Pregnant, Too, surveys about masturbation, and AMAZE.org videos featuring cartoon depictions of porn and abortion.
Potlatch school board members did not specifically acknowledge any of the sexually explicit and pornographic material included in the RTR curriculum. However, one member stated that he “was afraid a teacher might teach the full curriculum to students.” No further explanation was offered as to whether the board opposed or supported the content of RTR.
The board distanced itself from the previous board members’ decision to approve the RTR curriculum. Apparently current board members were unaware of the explicit nature of RTR and its promotion of transgender ideology to children. No responsibility was taken as to why the curriculum had never been reviewed by current board members.
Previously, district policy forced eighth-grade students into the program without parental consent. To date, the district has been following an “opt-out” policy. As one attendee at the school board meeting stated, an opt-out policy means “if a kid brings home the opt out form and doesn’t give it to [the parent] the [student] is going to be taught whether [the parent] knows or not.” A school board member responded that this would change going forward.
After the board unanimously voted to remove RTR from Potlatch schools, a community member offering public testimony remarked, “We shouldn’t have had this in the first place.” He added, “Our kids can’t even read and write around here,” yet the district is wasting resources on teaching kids graphic sexual material.
The Potlatch school board’s decision to get rid of the RTR curriculum was the right choice. School boards ought to defend childhood innocence from predatory interest groups like Planned Parenthood who push sexualized curriculum into schools. Other school boards across the state should follow Potlatch’s leadership.
Unfortunately, much damage has already been done. Each year more and more students have been put through the RTR program in Potlatch and 13 other schools since 2016. The responsibility to stop this disaster rests not only on school boards but also the Legislature. At the forefront of legislative decision-making should be the rejection of federal funds fueling these programs and holding accountable the public officials responsible for pushing this sexualized material on minors.
