Pittsburgh Schools to Have New Sex Ed Approach

Beginning in the next school year, sex education within Pittsburgh Public Schools will no longer be abstinence-only. Instead, it will have a broader base that discusses contraception methods and alternative lifestyles. A school board meeting on Tuesday voted 8-1 for creating a new approach.


"It's 2009," says Theresa Colaizzi, Pittsburgh School Board President. "Parents can try to control as much as they want, but a great deal of the time they can't control it." She says kids will learn, regardless of where it is: on television, in music lyrics or on the street.

Colaizzi says there are students that played a big role in changing policy. Some parents and teachers also went to the school board to request revising the abstinence-only education. She says this benefits both students and teachers, because it gives students the option to learn more, and it also provides a clearer boundary for teachers and what they can talk about. Colaizzi says the rule was previously a verbal agreement; the amended rule will be written.