Battle brewing over sex education in St. Lucie schools

By Margot Susca, The Treasure Coast Palm, October 13, 2006

FORT PIERCE -- Port St. Lucie pastor Bryan Longworth remembers his father presiding at the funeral of a man who died of AIDS and understands this community is in crisis.

St. Lucie County Schools Superintendent Michael Lannon reads the 2005 state statistics that show this area's dramatic HIV/AIDS infection rate -- 140.5 HIV cases per 100,000 population in blacks, 8.3 cases in whites, and 4.6 cases in Hispanics. And Lannon, like Longworth, finds himself using many of the same words to describe the problem.

Both sprinkle their conversations about the HIV/AIDS cases here with terms including: "epidemic" and "crisis." But agreement on the role of schools to address that problem ends there.

The two men are in the early stages of what could become a months-long battle over sexual education in public schools -- one that could change a longstanding policy of middle and high school children learning only about abstinence in health and science classrooms.

Lannon sits on a 27-member Executive Roundtable, a board made up of elected officials and community leaders focused on improving children's lives. The group formed a subcommittee that eventually will research curriculums from other school districts and their effectiveness.

At a Thursday afternoon luncheon with dozens of local ministers, including incoming school board member Troy Ingersoll, Lannon explained the mission of a subcommittee studying the issue.

"I'll probably anger some people today but I might please some others," Lannon said.

"We have the opportunity of different points of view and we are in the first analysis," he continued. "We will find a position that supports the health and welfare of this community."

Longworth, 37, pastor with his father at Port St. Lucie Covenant Tabernacle, balked at even the notion of switching from abstinence-only.

The father of two home-schooled children, Longworth called a Thursday morning news conference outside school headquarters to say he fears expansion of a sexual education curriculum could lead to "risky" behavior among teenagers.

"I'm not against sex education," Longworth said. "I'm for authentic abstinence education."

School board policy currently requires classroom instruction to "emphasize that abstinence from sexual activity is an absolute way to avoid pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS, and other associated health problems."

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