At their meeting on Aug. 9, the Alliance School Board passed a resolution opposing the Health Education Standards proposed by the Nebraska Department of Education.
According to Superintendent Dr. Troy Unzicker, the decision to pass the resolution came after hearing input from the public after the first draft of the standards were released.
“The Nebraska Department of Education has started to write health standards,” said Unzicker. “The first draft had people in a huge uproar. They were pretty detailed and graphic. A lot of people were extremely upset. I believe 40 schools wrote a resolution opposing them. We didn’t write a resolution against the first draft because we knew they were being redrafted.
“The Governor (Pete Ricketts) has come out and spoke against it,” Unzicker said. “Senator (Steve) Erdman’s been very vocal against it, and some of our patrons have gotten involved. We probably had about 45 minutes of public comment. I believe every single one of the comments were opposed to the health standards.”
Unzicker explained the board decided to draft a resolution opposing the standards after the second draft was released by the Nebraska Department of Education. With the exception of Board Member Josh Freiberger, who was absent from the meeting, the board voted unanimously to pass the resolution, Unzicker noted.
The resolution states, “Parents and guardians are the primary educators of their own children, especially in matters of faith and morals, including sex education,” noting that parents who support the proposed Health Education Standards have access to educational materials and may educate their children accordingly.
The resolution also explains that the School Board will not adopt or utilize the proposed standards, though if revisions are made, including removal of “all content which promotes ideological positions on human sexuality,” the board may consider adopting the standards.
Governor Ricketts, in a press release issued July 29, noted the proposed standards still need improvement following the release of the second draft of the standards, citing specific changes he believes need to be made.
“While this new draft of the health education standards scraps many of the topics Nebraskans found objectionable, the standards still need improvement,” Governor Ricketts said. “For example, this draft proposes to teach the concept of ‘gender identity.’ The continued presence of gender ideology in the standards leaves the door open for this material to be expanded either before these draft standards are approved or in future years when these standards are revisited.”
Unzicker invited people to share their input with the Nebraska Department of Education regarding the proposed health standards.