WI Repugs want to repeal Wisconsin's Comprehensive Sex ED program: Meeting NOW..

seacaves

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Wed Oct-19-11 12:50 PM
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WI Repugs want to repeal Wisconsin's Comprehensive Sex ED program: Meeting NOW..

There is a legislative meeting starting at noon. See tweets below and follow if you are interested.

http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=250624

Healthy Youth Alliance: Statewide groups condemn effort to repeal Healthy Youth Act
10/19/2011

Contact: Jennifer Lewis, (920) 410-6696

Senate Committee on Education Holds Public Hearing and Vote

MADISON, WI � The Healthy Youth Alliance denounces the introduction of Senate Bill 237 by state Senator Mary Lazich that would repeal critical components of the Healthy Youth Act, a bill passed in 2010 that ensures that public schools provide medically accurate, comprehensive, and age-appropriate sexuality education to Wisconsin youth.

The Healthy Youth Act is a common sense policy that sets a minimum standard for sex education in Wisconsin in an effort to reduce teen pregnancy and STD rates. Current law emphasizes the vital role of parents, school boards and teachers in both the curriculum decision and implementation of programs within the school district. Senator Lazich�s bill shifts the focus of sex education away from aiding Wisconsin youth in making safe, healthy responsible decisions to an antiquated curriculum that focuses on abstinence-only until marriage. SB 237 will:

� Deny teens information about contraceptives to prevent pregnancy and STDs.
� Water down teaching teens skills to avoid dating violence and to recognize sexual and physical abuse.
� Require a return to failed abstinence-only until marriage instruction.
� Eliminate the meaning of medically accurate leaving the validity of �facts� up to chance.
� Remove parents' right to know if sex education is being provided to their children in the classroom.
� Ban health care providers including doctors and nurses from teaching health classes.
� Take away local control by limiting the number of parents and teachers local school districts can appoint to the human growth and development curriculum advisory committee.

�For the second year in a row, teen pregnancy rates have decreased in Milwaukee,� said Nicole Angresano, Vice President of Community Impact at United Way of Greater Milwaukee. �Because we know the tremendous cost teen pregnancy has not only to teens themselves, but to our entire community, one of our top priorities in breaking the cycle of poverty and promoting a healthy future is preventing unintended teen pregnancy. The Healthy Youth Act is a commonsense measure that is helping us get there.�

The bill�s introduction comes at a time when Wisconsin families need elected officials to focus their work on job creation, not ideological attacks on education that works to enhance the health of our youth. Dismantling the Healthy Youth Act will not create new jobs in our communities, but it will undoubtedly cost taxpayers millions in negative health outcomes and take Wisconsin backwards threatening our progress in reducing teen pregnancy and STD rates

Some recent tweets:

dane101 profile
dane101 Waiting on the bill's author to appear so can proceed.

dane101 profile
dane101 Chair moves to stop discussion of SB18 and move on to SB237, says they are "working on getting a larger room" but most are booked now.

http://www.wearewisconsin.org/

illusory_tenant profile

illusory_tenant No better poster boy for abstinence than Glenn Grothman 13 seconds ago � reply � retweet � favorite
dane101 profile
dane101 Sen. Darling (cmte member) has just entered the room. People outside still sound agitated. Promises that they're looking for a bigger room.

ACLUMadison Frustrated people disrupt Senate Edu committee meeting decrying the too-small room. One lady asks incredulously "is this an OPEN hearing?"

dane101 profile
dane101 People bursting in from outside to vocally protest the small hearing room, demanding that the meeting be stopped.

onewisconsinnow profile
onewisconsinnow Next on WISGOP Sen Ed Com agenda. Ending all child labor laws w/tax breaks for "unpaid opportunity apprenticeships." Kids, Earn Your Keep!

dane101 profile
dane101 Sen. Vukmir just went into hallway to shush up the line of people waiting to get in.

Press releases:

From a Conservative group:-(
Wisconsin Family Action: �Strong Communities�Healthy Kids Act� restores choice to communities and school districts
10/19/2011

Contact: Julaine Appling, President � 866-849-2536
Fax:608-256-3370
Email:info@wifamilyaction.org

Bill repeals Madison�s one-size-fits-all approach to sex ed

MADISON��It�s time for the heavy boot of Madison and Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin to be removed from the necks of Wisconsin�s school districts when it comes to sex ed programs,� said Julaine Appling, president of Wisconsin Family Action. �And the Strong Communities�Healthy Kids Act� (Senate Bill 237) will do just that. This bill allows school districts, in cooperation with parents and other community members, to make choices that will enhance the optimal health and well-being of their students.�

The �Strong Communities�Healthy Kids Act� is about local control. It is a bill that removes the requirement that all school districts in Wisconsin that want to have a sex ed program must have one that is designed by Planned Parenthood and approved by Madison. �This is a bill predicated on the notion that parents, community members, and school district officials know better than Madison does about what is in the best interest of their students,� noted Appling.

Wisconsin Family Action worked to defeat the so-called �Healthy Youth Act� that was enacted last year because it took away local school districts� ability to make important decisions regarding the sex ed curriculum, if a school district elected to have such a program. �If a school district believes that an abstinence-centered program is the best way to promote the optimal health and well-being of its students, then it should have the right to design and implement such a program. Current law prevents any school district from making this choice,� continued Appling.

Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) and Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt (R-Fond du Lac) are the sponsors of the bill. Sen. Lazich has long been an advocate of school districts developing sex ed curricula that reflect the values of their communities, while also insisting that students be informed that abstinence from sexual activity until marriage is the preferred behavior for unmarried students and is the only 100% reliable way to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. The �Strong Communities�Healthy Kids Act� accomplishes both of these.

Appling continued, �We are grateful for the leadership Sen. Lazich in particular has provided on this important bill. She is proposing a bill that is truly about allowing communities to exercise their strength and make the very best decisions regarding what their children will be taught in any sex ed program. No one cares more about their children being healthy than parents. Keeping sex ed choices close to home allows those who care the most to have the most direct input, rather than having Madison dictate a one-size-fits-all program.�

The �Strong Communities�Healthy Youth Act� (SB 237) is scheduled for a public hearing today in the Senate Education Committee, chaired by Sen. Luther Olsen (R-Ripon).