It is about protecting children.

Where is your first stop if you want to find out about Family Life Education (FLE) in the Prince William County Schools (PWCS)? That’s the Science & Family Life Education (pwcs.edu) webpage. Why does PWCS lump FLE in with Science. Well, consider what is on their webpage.

We take great pride in developing your child’s scientific and analytical skills as they mature into adulthood. Using the links on this page you will find a wealth of information about our program. These pages include the curriculum for each grade level, science fair information, science SOL information and information about the various programs that Science and Family Life Education oversees. (from here)

Have you ever seriously thought of your family as a scientific enterprise? Do you think public school teachers have the right to teach your child whatever they want so long they justify it in the name of science? Would that make your child a guinea pig or what?

There is a link to the FLE program on the Science & Family Life Education webpage, Family Life Education. This webpage offers soothing words. FLE is a sex education program, but this webpage never mentions sex. The folks who run this program want us to understand that they are experts with the best of intentions, but they don’t seem to be overly concerned about explaining the purpose of the FLE Program. That is probably why some parents pay special attention to this paragraph.

Parents/guardians should review the FLE objectives pertaining to their child’s grade or course before making opt out decisions. Detailed grade level and course-related objectives are located in the folders below. Parents/guardians who determine their child should not be included in FLE during the current school year should indicate the objectives on the opt out form and return the form to the child’s school prior to FLE instruction. The opt out form is located in the Code of Behavior and is also located below.

Unless parents/guardians indicate otherwise, their child will be included in FLE. It is not necessary to return the form if parents/guardians wish for their child to participate in FLE instruction. (from here)

Why would people be able to opt their children out of the FLE Program? The answer is that enough people have demanded it. In fact, some people have so much disdain for sex education programs run by politicians that they would prefer that parents/guardians have an “opt in” instead of an “opt out” option. Such a change would force educators to make the program desirable enough that parents actually want their children to participate or they would not bother to fill out the “opt in” form.

Consider what The Family Foundation posted on their blog at the beginning of this school year.

Family Life Education Opt-Out – At the start of each school year, parents have the opportunity and the legal right to review the school’s family life education (FLE) curriculum (i.e. “Sex Ed”) and decide if they want to “opt-out” their child from participating in this instruction.  FLE topics can be quite sensitive, and often include explicit sexual and graphic content. If you wish to opt your child out of FLE, make sure to get your school’s Opt-Out form, fill it out, sign it, and send it in. To find out what is being taught, look on the school district’s website or contact the school. (from here (familyfoundation.org))

You want to have some idea what your child will learn in the FLE Program? Then you had better start looking at the program objectives and guidelines at the bottom of the Family Life Education web page.

What is the basic headache with a politician-run school system? Politicians have political agendas. So, what they try to teach our children is driven by politics, not necessarily by what parents want their children to learn. That is why, thanks to political agendas, our public schools have become political battlegrounds instead of institutions of learning.

Consider a recent example from a neighbor, Loudoun County, Diverse classroom libraries spark debate in Loudoun County (loudountimes.com). Loudoun County Publish Schools (lcps.org) have implemented Diverse Classroom Libraries K-12 (lcps.org). What is the problem with that?

However, a number of parents are concerned that the new collection uses the concept of diversity as a Trojan horse to slip in titles that contain age-inappropriate, sexually explicit content. Several participants in the public comment section of the School Board’s Sept. 24 meeting voiced these concerns, with some reciting sexually graphic passages from featured books.

Meeting attendee Natassia Grover cited a book available to seventh-graders — “Weird Girl and What’s His Name” by Meagan Brothers — which she described as portraying a relationship between a teenage boy and his middle-aged employer as “one of love, not abuse.” (from here (loudountimes.com))

Diversity is a buzzword that for many people now includes inappropriate sexual behavior, especially LGBTQ “diversity”.

If Christians want the children who attend our public schools to learn how to be good citizens, we must fight to keep the politicians who run them from abusing the public’s trust.

So, what will we focus on here? We are going to look the PWCS’ FLE program, and we going to consider what parents can do to keep our School Board from introducing screwy ideas about “diversity” into the program. Note, however, as LCPS’ Diverse Classroom Libraries K-12 program suggests, the FLE program is just one of many targets of opportunity for the so-called “diversity” activists. When we put irresponsible people in charge of our schools, it is not easy to keep them from messing them up. It is much easier to destroy than it is to build something worthwhile.