Pastor warns about new sex education books being considered for Fayette schools

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Recently I have been selected to serve on a committee that will decide the new Health/PE curriculum for our Fayette County Schools. I am humbled and honored to be on this committee.

However, I write today to express my immense concern and call to action over the curriculum being presented.

My first concern is the timing in which we are to read all the material being presented. We have been presented thousands of pages to read, analyze, and report back within only three months.

It causes suspicion to arise with the rushed timeline of the committee. Once I started reading the material, I understood why.

So far, I have learned of several disturbing and downright horrifying facts about the potential new textbooks;

• Several are supported by Planned Parenthood and Trojan Condom board members.

• Even greater concerning was when I discovered to my horror that my elementary daughter would have to write a school paper on masturbation if this new curriculum passes.

• Controversial sexual orientations like transgenderism are introduced as young as 11 years old.

Needless to say, I believe the committee should freeze their process and review all the material thoroughly.

I encourage you to:

• Call or email the school board and ask for the committee to freeze this process in order to read and properly discuss all the material.

Here is  the contact information:

Fayette Board of Education — Phone: 770-460-3535

District 1 – Barry Marchman – [email protected]

District 2 – Roy Rabold – [email protected]

District 3 – Scott Hollowell – [email protected]

District 4 – Leonard Presberg – [email protected]

District 5 – Brian Anderson – [email protected]

Public Relations – Melinda Berry-Dreisbach – [email protected]

Superintendent – Jody Barrow – [email protected]

K-12 Coordinator of Science, Health & PE – Patricia Morgan – [email protected]

Coord. of Counseling and Career Dev. – Lakisha Bonner – [email protected]

• Please attend the next school board meeting to display your support for the current abstinence-based-only curriculum which we would like to keep.

Monday, February 24th

Agenda Review at 6:30 p.m. – Meeting at 7 p.m.

LaFayette Educational Center, 205 LaFayette Avenue, Fayetteville, GA 30214

As a faith leader in my community I am appalled that we would even consider such material for our young minds.

Josh Saefkow, D.Min., Senior Pastor

Flat Creek Baptist Church

Fayetteville, Ga.

26 COMMENTS

  8. Im a 7th generation resident of this county as a result of my ancestors draw in the Revolutionary war veterans land lottery.
    This is a VERY Conservative county with a very high percentage of christians who vote and wont accept this filth under any foolish acceptance rules…or under any circumstances whatsoever!

    No we must draw the line here and now!

  13. Is this still Fayette Co, GA? Wake up parents!

    How about this, if you want to teach your kids how to service themselves, then by all means, go for it! You might want to suggest that the empty feeling that they experience after completing the mission is not the same as the feeling they should expect after experincing a loving sexual encounter…just keepin’ it real.

    As for discussing non-binary, can’t decide if I’m a boy or a girl or a warthog, how about just teaching kids to have respect for themselves and for others and teach them that curiosity and fantasy are not the same as identity. And believe it or not, based upon your God-given genitals you are either a boy or a girl and if you are the former you can’t know what it feels like to be the latter and vice-versa. Teach your children that if they feel confused to come to Mom or Dad to talk about it, not to some over-educated, politically correct, stateist tool working for the school system.

  14. I’m so glad our board of education is making sure our kids have the resources to make safe decisions about whether to have sex! I wish my professors would give us as long as three months to read bulk material.

    • Sweetheart… these folks have a life that they’re trying to juggle this around. Until you’ve raised 3 contributing members of society and paid your own bills for say 25-30 years… you really shouldn’t speak on issues that don’t directly affect you.

  15. There is a vast body of research on abstinence-only programs in the U.S. When compared to comprehensive sex education, abstinence-only programs have consistently been shown that to fail at reducing adolescent sexual activity, and to lead to riskier behavior when people do begin engage in sexual activity.
    – Abstinence-only programs have been consistently linked to higher teen pregnancy and teen birth rates; comprehensive sex ed programs reduce these rates.
    – Abstinence-only programs have not been found to significantly impact the age at which adolescents initiate sexual activity.
    – Abstinence-only programs have been consistently shown to have no impact on STI transmission rates, while comprehensive sex ed reduces STI transmission rates.
    – Abstinence-only programs have been consistently found to promote misleading and outright false medical information, and exclude critical information about sexual risk reduction.
    – Abstinence-only programs often promote some really regressive ideas about gender norms, which has mental and behavioral health implications for all students, but especially for LGBTQ students.

    Children and adolescents deserve scientifically and medically accurate, honest, research-based, age-appropriate information about sexual development, sexuality, and sexual risk-reduction. Abstinence-only programs fail on all of these fronts, and they fail at promoting abstinence as well.

    To make matters worse, the federal government has poured more than $2 billion into these less-than-worthless abstinence-only programs over the last 20 years.

    Finally, I would challenge the pastor to cite the specific textbook module or associated curriculum material that the pastor is referring to when he states that his 8-year-old might be required to write a paper about masturbation. I find this claim highly suspect for many reasons.

  16. I highly doubt any child will be expected to write a report about what they learned in these text books. My daughter is in 5th grade at a Fayette County school. She participated in a health class (my older daughter had the same class in 5th grade). The boys and girls were separated and different subjects related to puberty were discussed. We received a PERMISSION SLIP outlining all subjects that were going to be discussed ahead of time and we had the option to decline her attendance in this class. As far as the issue of transgender and homosexuality,this is not being promoted by schools. You don’t wake up one day and decide you want to be discriminated, marginalized and bullied for much of your life. Trust me,discovering who you are and finding out it is not part of the society norm is not the “cool thing” to do among teens and preteens.These kids are born the way they are and struggle with acceptance with their families,peers, and church.

  17. I feel sorry for you having sever thousand pages to read in 3 months. That’s about 30 pages per day to read, less than an hour if taking notes. You could have opted out of this committee. Since you didn’t, maybe you should stop complaining. As for content you described, it is likely that a 6th grader has either seen something sexual on the internet or giggled with friends discussing something sexual. Maybe approaching the subject of masturbation from a reality view, will actually help kids confused by hearsay. Kids today are developing at a much faster rate than back in the 60’s. Thank the internet and hormones used in food production for that. This is reality. A study confirmed that over 50% of kids 14 and under have had intercourse. Education that would prevent pregnancy is needed. It doesn’t matter who supports this curriculum, even if it is a condom manufacturer or Planned Parenthood. Preaching abstinence is insane today. Kids will always be curious and always will experiment sexually, unless you lock them in a closet and have no media available to watch or use. Educated is better than ignorant, unless a parent wants a grandchild from their 14 yr old child. So get real. As for transgender or gay subjects being taught, the reality is that kids know at an early age if they feel “different”. I had three friends when I was 10 years old that were somehow different. They came out of the closet eventually. Two are now deceased from AIDS complications. We had no education back then, except that God would punish you. That is absurd if you are a Jesus follower that teaches you to love others as he has loved. Exorcism or intervention doesn’t work because the causes are genetic or chemical in nature. Teaching kids reality about sexual differences and teaching acceptance of those different than they are is Christ like. The religious “Woe is me” alarm you are sounding off in your article is ignorant, especially since you have thousands of pages yet to read. Kids today are bombarded with sexual messages or innuendo. You can’t stick your head in the sand or preach something that will only cause more curiosity. Educated and responsible sexuality is the way to go with our kids and grandkids. We need to love them enough to educate them on sexual topics.

  19. Leftvale,
    I don’t think the article’s intent was to have kids go through puberty in the dark. I think the pastor was raising the issue of the education system introducing these subjects at such an early age and possibly with a certain tilt. It is uncomfortable for me to think that my elementary-age daughter would have to potentially write a paper on such subjects. At 8: she still believes in Disney princesses, wants to live at home forever, and save all the baby animals. I very seriously doubt in 3 years she’ll be ready for a writing assignment concerning masterbation or LGBT issues.

    Perhaps I’m a tad obsolete in today’s world, but I feel that the initial discussions about sex, gender identities, and the like should begin at home. I do hope you are correct about an opt-out clause, but it will not be used to keep my children in the dark. Rather, I’d like the right to inform them when the time is ready for each and allow them all to enjoy the remaining beauty and innocence of childhood.

  20. This is alarming! I didn’t realize there were still people who thought abstinence-only education worked. In any case, surely there’s an opt-out clause for parents who want their kids to go through puberty in the dark. The kids will be so grateful someday that we saved them from knowing masturbation existed!