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from Title V of the Arizona Department of Health Services, noting the intention to promote abstinence to prevent pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and sexually transmitted infections. Moore pointed out that TOP’s curriculum doesn’t address STDs.

“I think that if we really want to do sex education, we should do sex education and we should teach about sexually transmitted diseases,” he said. “It promotes abstinence–which is good, I like that–but the reality is that in order to do an effective teen pregnancy curbing program, you’re going to have to talk to some extent about sex.”

Health Promotions Program Manager Gloria Coronado addressed this concern, stating: “That’s the overarching goal: for us to address the reduction on teen pregnancies, STDs, STIs … Because of the [three] different funding [sources], one of our funding [sources] is solely abstinence only which is why we’re offering the TOP outreach program.”

Coronado explained that she had also engaged in conversations with Doering and Assistant Superintendent Mike Hoffman, who agreed TOP–the only curriculum program of the ones offered that is not abstinence plus–would be the best option for the district.

Doering shared that part of the reasoning for TOP was that Crane has gone many years without sex ed in its curriculum. Since TOP was the least explicit of the offerings, Doering said, “If we’re going to bring something on, let’s do something that is not as drastic of a change.”

Other concerns about the curriculum’s non-sexual components being superfluous were also discussed.

Coronado stated the program would be supportive of the district’s endeavors, such as community learning hours and leadership skills: “With the TOP, there are so many elements that I think do support a lot of activities and academics that are already part of your core curriculums … I also want to reiterate that we submitted an initial outline of what the topics would be, so what the public and the board members got to review was the entire TOP curriculum.”

Noting that the board reviewed the entire curriculum, Coronado iterated that the program is sectioned into what it deems appropriate for particular age ranges. This would mean, as clarified in the meeting, that eighth-grade students would engage with the curriculum that would be appropriate for them. Answering a question from Board Member Audrey Garcia, she also noted that individual students and parents could work with the educator should they wish to avoid a specific lesson.

Claridge brought up her experience as a parent who’s had children at a few different schools within the district: “I’ve seen the difference between having a child in a gap program at a school versus having my child in regular courses at a school. The leadership stuff is not taught throughout our district on a regular basis. We have awesome teachers and yes, they are encouraging that but that is not necessarily a curriculum item within our regular ed classes.”

She noted that she hasn’t seen job interview skills, for example, taught and mentioned that she’s spoken with some parents who are looking forward to the program.

“I would remind my fellow board members,” she said, “[that] this is an opt-in program, so you might not feel that it’s best for your child but some parent–this might be exactly what they need for their child and as board members, we need to consider all of our population, all of our kids in this district.”

While the board members agreed on the need for some form of sex education, the board members who voted against TOP’s adoption expressed a desire to review the other curriculum offerings that Coronado mentioned.

Since Board Member Dan Farar was absent from the meeting, Claridge expressed that she would like to see the program voted upon again in a future meeting before January so that “it could either die fully or get through.”

To learn more about the Teen Outreach Program, visit https://teenoutreachprogram.com/top/.