Jacob Dimond / jake@yelmonline.com
During a Yelm Community Schools (YCS) Board of Directors meeting on Thursday, March 12, the district’s five board members re-voted on the selection of an updated version of Family Life and Sexual Health (FLASH) being the fifth grade sexual education material taught.
Before the vote, board member Ryan Jewell stated that he wasn’t clear enough on where he stood with his vote during the last YCS Board of Directors meeting on Thursday, Feb. 26. The selection of using an updated version of FLASH was originally unanimously passed 5-0 by the board members.
“Of the three curriculums that were provided, this is the best of the three,” Jewell said. “I asked for a motion to approve the work that was done in committee but not necessarily the curriculum. So that doesn’t take any real action, unfortunately, on the policy that’s there.”
He added that the original version of FLASH from 2005 works and fits the Yelm community much better.
“If there’s a curriculum that fits our community well, that would catch up with some state standards and expectations, it’d totally be in support of that,” he said.
Board member Denise Hendrickson said the reason the board of directors is forced to update the curriculum is because state law has changed.
“At the last board meeting, when we discussed this, there was a little bit of confusion,” she said. “You were OK with the committee’s work they had done, and they picked the new updated FLASH, so I figured you were OK with the updated FLASH. Would the old version of FLASH work with state standards?”
Superintendent Chris Woods confirmed that the old version of FLASH would not work and meet state guidelines.
“In the meantime, we could update our FLASH, and in the meantime we could be looking,” she said. “The other thing is, I struggle with this because as we’re having discussions, I think this is totally ridiculous that we’re teaching this at school. This is a conversation that belongs at home, on the couch, with families. It does not belong in the schools at all. That being said, it is being crammed down our throats as schools following the state. We have to do the best job we can. The best job we can do is meet the basic requirements.”
Board member Frank King said he has a fifth grade daughter enrolled within YCS, and that the last thing he would want is another person teaching this material to his child.
“I get the purpose of being state compliant, but the power rests with the parent, ultimately, at the end of the day. That’s where parents need to exercise their right to opt-out if they disagree with it,” he said. “I opt my kids out of it. I was part of the 3% of parents that do in the district. You’d think 80% of the district would be opting their kids out, but that’s just not the case. Ultimately, I disagree with it, but it was work done in committee with the curriculum that was presented to them, they did find the most suitable, state mandated curriculum.”
Board member Bill Hauss, before motioning to move to a vote, stated that he wished the FLASH program required an opt-in from families, rather than an opt-out.
Though board member Casey Shaw was absent from the meeting, he voted towards the approval of the selection of FLASH for fifth grade students. Woods read a pre-written statement from the absent board member explaining his vote.
“I don’t love it, but it was the best presented at this point,” Shaw wrote. “I do believe there are better out there, so I will continue to urge the district to keep looking and present other alternatives. But they are to teach it this spring so they don’t have much time for this school year, which is why I am voting yes and requesting to make the opt-out as clear and persistent as possible.”
King added, after Woods read Shaw’s statement, that in order to stay compliant with Washington state law, he’d vote “yes.”
The motion passed, 4-1, and Jewell was the lone school board member to vote against the selection of an updated FLASH for fifth grade students.
