BOE President: District Will Use Planned Parenthood Materials

UPDATED, May 20, 5:06 p.m.–Board of Education President Jack Lyness released a statement Monday that announced the district will continue to use materials supplied by Planned Parenthood of Northern New Jersey in the fourth and fifth grade human growth and development curriculum.

These materials, primarily diagrams of the human reproductive organs, came under fire by many parents because of the affiliation with Planned Parenthood.

"We have listened to those objections and have invited representatives of the group to review the curriculum," Lyness wrote in his statement. "Those representatives, who are physicians, raised no objections to the content of the materials or the accuracy of the information, but rather objected to the fact that the materials had been provided by Planned Parenthood. "

In order to further alleviate parents' concerns, Lyness wrote that the district will ensure that no Planned Parenthood staff will be in the classroom and that the material will only be taught by district nurses. He also noted that the documents do not say Planned Parenthood on them.

 "I have conferred with each one of my colleagues on the board of education on this subject, and they unanimously support the administration's decision to use the materials. Their support is based on the nursing staff's opinion that the materials are the best available and that the curriculum is factual and free of bias," he wrote.

Lyness also directed parents to the district's policy #9130 which gives them the right to appeal the board's decision to the Commissioner of Education.

But not everyone is satisfied with the district's decision. Anjali McCormick, a parent who previously voiced concern about the program, said other materials to teach the students about this material are available elsewhere.

"We are disappointed that Mr. Lyness (in his May 17, 2010 letter to Summit residents) and the Summit Board of Education continues to purposefully violate its mission statement to be "free of political influence" by maintaining its relationship with Planned Parenthood," she wrote in a statement to Summit Patch. "Mr. Lyness' admission that they will continue to use Planned Parenthood materials in the classroom vindicates our concerns about Dr. Parker's misleading statements that there was "no relationship and no partnership" with the organization.  It is also remarkable that when parents in good faith ask reasonable questions about who is educating their children and what they are being taught, Mr. Lyness accuses them of intimidating the nurses and the school administration.  We continue to believe that appropriate and updated information for the Human Growth and Development curriculum is widely and easily available, and that a more prudent course of action for the Board would have been to distance itself from political advocacy organizations on either side of the aisle. We are relieved that Planned Parenthood representatives will no longer directly co-teach our fourth and fifth graders."

But one parent says this issue extends well beyond just the use of materials provided by Planned Parenthood.

Vicki Freeman said her concerns also include details she learned at a parent information session about the program at which Planned Paenthood Representatives discussed the curriculum including information about oral sex, sex for pleasure, and same sex attraction.

"My 9 year old still plays with Legos and wakes up Christmas morning to see what Santa Claus has brought," Freeman said. "We were among many parents who left the meeting flabbergasted."

Even with the removal of the Planned Parenthood logo from materials and the handouts diluted, Freeman said this is not enough.

"By all accounts, Planned Parenthood's influence is still in our schools in recent training sessions for nurses and in the use of their materials.  This relationship must be severed," she said. "This group has spent millions of dollars on political campaigns and lobbying, so its participation in the curriculum is obviously not compatible with the school's mission statement."

On top of that, Freeman says Planned Parenthood has a conflict of interest in teaching kids this curriculum because they make money off of sexually active youth by generating revenue from contraception, sexual health, and abortion.

"The fact is that this is a controversial political organization–this is why even friends of ours who generally support the work of Planned Parenthood do not think they are an appropriate partner for the Summit school system," she said.

To read Lyness's statement, please see attached pdf at right.