Backlash Over OCASD Superintendent Assertion That Sex Education Lessons Are Not ‘Curriculum’

| March 21, 2023

OIL CITY, Pa. (EYT) – The superintendent of the Oil City School District is facing criticism and pushback from parents for stating that sex education lessons are “resources,” not “curriculum.”

(Photo above: Dan Aaron addresses the OCASD School Board during the March 20 work session.)

Pressure from parents has intensified over the past few weeks because of the district’s use of two Sex Ed. programs that are being taught in the elementary and middle schools without prior board approval. We Care Elementary is being taught to students in grades three through six. Sexual Abuse Free Environment for Teens, or SAFE-T, is being taught to students in grades seven and eight.

The full school board met for a scheduled work session on Monday night for the first time since last week’s Curriculum/Education Committee meeting. During that meeting, Superintendent Lynda G. Weller, Ed.D. stated that the lessons were resources that the district uses, not curriculum.

“Vermont calls it a curriculum. To us, they’re resources and materials used to aid in the curriculum,” said Weller at the March 13 committee meeting.

We Care Elementary and SAFE-T are published by Prevent Child Abuse Vermont.

(Superintendent Well and Board President McFadden listen to a presentation during the March 20 work session.)

“The distinction between ‘curriculum’ and ‘resources and materials’ is important,” Weller said.

“The board does not approve every single resource. There are things that the board entrusts to teachers to pick as resources,” she said. “There are kindergarten teachers that do different activities that they might purchase a workbook from somewhere, and the board really doesn’t know. But, the board approves the PA standards for what kindergartners should have for the different core areas.”

Four parents addressed Weller’s latest position.

“If the Administration now wants us to believe that We Care Elementary and SAFE-T curriculums are in fact not curriculums but rather resources, and don’t need board approval to implement,” Dan Aaron asked, “Why then – when our group raised valid concerns about facts that we researched was the administration’s next step to add a retroactive approval vote on this curriculum to the February 20th work session agenda?”

(Parent and School Board candidate Devin Aaron addresses the board during the March 20 work session.)

Dan Aaron said that as he and other parents were researching the district’s legal responsibilities to parents, they reached out to Brian Campbell of the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Bureau of Curriculum, Assessment, and Instruction and asked if board members need to formally vote on a curriculum or program that administrators have contracted to an outside agency.

According to Aaron, Campbell’s response was, “Yes, it is the responsibility of each local School Board to approve the curriculum taught in their schools. All votes must occur at public meetings and the vote should be reflected both on the agenda and meeting minutes.”

Other parents expressed their frustration toward Weller’s position.

“At the March 13th School Board meeting, I was informed that as a parent, I was the one who was confused and ignorant of the terminology used by educators surrounding these two programs,” said Jerry Burns during his time to address the board. “The admin not only improperly vetted and reviewed the content, as admitted by several board members, but also improperly unilaterally implemented (the curricula) by the superintendent last year.”

“I’d like to thank Dr. Weller for the vocabulary lesson in our last board meeting. Apparently, school board members, parents, and administrators were confused about the use of the word curriculum, which we’ve been discussing for the past several weeks,” said Joe Klapec. “The We Care Elementary and SAFE-T curriculums are simply resources the district is utilizing and don’t require prior board approval. If this is the case, then why are you seeking retroactive approval for said curriculum?”

(The School Board listens to parents during the March 20 work session.)

Klapec said that as a parent, he made a request to the school district to be able to view the curriculum in its entirety. The district only shared some of the resources, he said.

When exploreVenango made the same request last week, a district employee said that we’d need to make an appointment to do so in person at the district office, but the person who could facilitate the review was unavailable until the following week. The district would not provide the materials to review outside of the presence of a district employee while at a district facility, citing copyright concerns.

Curriculum/Education Committee Chair Mark Kerr recommended to the school board to publish a request for proposal to any organization who wishes to submit a competing sexual education plan in May, asking the organizations to make presentations in June, with a full board vote would take place in July. The board is set to take up the recommendation at its next voting meeting, which is scheduled for next Monday.

(Curriculum/Education Committee chairperson Mar Kerr presents the committee’s recommendation to the board during the March 20 work session.)

“To be very clear, there are a hundred things that come through this district on a regular basis,” Kerr added near the end of the discussion on the matter. “The community and the board place a lot of faith in the administration to muddle through what they need to. If this board was to sit there and have to take action on every decision that this district makes, nothing would get done.”

“I think we can agree that the superintendent has the authority to institute a program of this nature,” said Board President Joseph McFadden, indicating how he might vote on the recommendation at next week’s meeting.

Note: This article was updated on March 21 at 1:45 p.m. to correct an error that stated the person who can facilitate the review of the curricula was on vacation. That person was not on vacation, but unavailable.


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Category: Local News, News, Oil City, Schools

Gavin Fish is a reporter for EYT Media Group and YouTuber based in Venango County. In addition to his YouTube Channel, he has contributed to investigations and reports for ABC News, Investigation Discovery, and Fox Nation, and has collaborated on projects developed for Netflix, Oxygen, Discovery Channel, Amazon Prime, and Hulu.
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