At a regular board meeting on Monday evening, the Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS) Board of Education voted unanimously to adopt a new and significantly expanded sexual education curriculum for the district. The update, which revamps the district’s approach to teaching topics of abstinence, relationship dynamics, and contraception, modernizes the TCAPS sex ed curriculum to reflect a wider range of potential student experiences, including a more inclusive approach for students that identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community. The new curriculum also comes amidst nationwide calls for sex ed reform, which have gotten louder in the wake of the United States Supreme Court’s controversial decision last month to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling on abortion rights.

Dan McGee, a physical education and health teacher at Traverse City Central High School, was on hand at last night’s board meeting to present the new sex ed curriculum and review some of the key changes it will bring to the classroom. McGee serves as part of the TCAPS Sex Education Advisory Board (SEAB), a committee made up of district employees, parents, and community members that worked throughout the 2021-22 school year to revamp the district’s outdated curriculum. This year, the SEAB was focused on three particular sections of sex ed within TCAPS: an abstinence education section; a section focused on helping teens distinguish the differences between supportive, unsupportive, and harmful relationships; and a third section intended to teach students about contraception options.

The biggest addition to the abstinence section of the curriculum is a segment intended to teach teens about “refusal skills.” McGee noted that TCAPS already made headway on incorporating matters of consent into its sex ed approach last year, when the district reframed the “sex and the law” section of its program. However, while discussing potential changes to the abstinence training, several members of the SEAB expressed a desire to give teens who maybe aren’t being asked for consent – or who are being pressured into sexual activity – specific tools they can use to be assertive in saying no. “Health education has gone to more skill-based teaching,” McGee explained of this approach. “You’re not just presenting information, but you’re trying to give kids skills on how to use information.”

The refusal skills lesson defines three main types of communication that often exist around sexual interactions: passive, aggressive, and assertive. “Pressure lines” are a type of communication that fall into the “aggressive” category, while “refusal lines” are assertive responses that individuals can use to set boundaries with their partners. The new TCAPS curriculum gives scenarios for different types of pressure lines that can come up in a relationship (such as “I thought you were a grown up, but you don’t want to do this? You’re just a kid.”) and corresponding refusal lines that can be used to respond (“No, I am making an adult decision.”)

The relationships section of the sex ed curriculum, meanwhile, now includes more definitions and tools that students can use to determine whether or not they are in a healthy relationship. This section sketches out key differences between supportive and unsupportive relationships, and flags warning signs that might indicate harmful, unhealthy, or abusive relationship situations. Other new additions to the curriculum include strategies for extricating oneself from a harmful relationship, as well as signs that students can watch for if they believe a friend or classmate may be involved in an unhealthy or dangerous relationship.

The curriculum also now incorporates statistics about how common sexual violence is among teens who are in dating relationships – especially for young women. For instance, one in eight female high school students have reported experiencing dating violence in the last year, versus one in 26 males. McGee said that teens tend to be responsive to statistics as part of the sexual education process, hence the decision to spotlight this data prominently.

Finally, the new sex ed curriculum incorporates substantial updates in the area of contraception education. McGee told board members that the district’s old section around contraceptives was “even more outdated” than the curricula around abstinence or abusive relationships. “It was one page, and we decided that was not a great way to get that information to the kids,” he said. Updated materials include more information about different types of contraception, ranging from condoms to IUDs to diaphragms and beyond. “Most of these [methods] were on our former [curriculum], but this is much more descriptive, much more informative, and a much better resource for our students,” McGee said of the new chart that walks students through contraception options.

Perhaps the biggest change to the contraceptive curriculum, though, is a new focus on incorporating teachings about “birth control across the gender spectrum.” That section incorporates information about birth control and pregnancy that is geared specifically toward students who are transgender or gender fluid, including sections about “birth control for people taking testosterone” or “birth control for people taking estrogen.”

Monday’s meeting marked the second public hearing that TCAPS has held regarding this new curriculum – steps that are required by law for public school districts that are in the process of developing and adopting new sexual education strategies. The model is designed to give community members a chance to weigh in on – and potentially influence the shape of – how sexual topics are being taught in schools. Despite the fact the sex ed in schools often spurs ideological debates, Monday evening’s board meeting only drew a few attendees and barely any public comment. However, Linda Pepper – a member of the SEAB committee who worked alongside McGee in developing the new curriculum – did approach the microphone to say she was “extremely impressed with the quality, the extensiveness, and the non-judgmental-ness” of how sexual education will be taught at TCAPS going forward.

Also at Monday’s meeting, Superintendent John VanWagoner gave a brief update about last week’s board decision to launch a districtwide safety and security assessment. VanWagoner told the board that he had officially signed a contract with Secure Education Consultants – the firm that will be performing the assessment – and that TCAPS is currently aiming to have those assessments done during the second week of the 2022-23 school year. He also noted that TCAPS has already attracted “quite a few applicants” for a new internal school safety and security coordinator position and that he is aiming to have someone hired in for that position by August.

Materials for the new TCAPS sex ed curriculum can be reviewed here.