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Show Parents oDDOse, support Alpine District plans to allow sex survey i A i. Jt VJr &JF IrJ X 7 . :.. 1, i ih rWitfnilpd Hieh School in this case) and survey. information p;ithprpd wilt hp .selected in each of the designated schools to complete the (iiestionaire. Dr. Clark Cox. Alpine District SuiKTintendent, said while many people believe the school district is in charge of the survey, this is not true. The district, he said, is simply allowing the task force to use the school building (American Fork High School in this case) and providing a list of students from which participants will be selected. He emphasized that the task force must have written permission from each parent before their son or daughter can take the survey. Parents who want to review it before it is given can do so. Ilene Peterson. American Fork, told the board she supports the survey. "I realize some of the questions asked may be awkward to discuss but parents will have the opportunity op-portunity to deny their children permission to take it. I think students who take it will be sobered by it. When the students read the questions, they will stop and think about it." she said. Mrs. Peterson said she thinks the information gathered will be credible. "I feel like we're sticking our heads in the sand if we don't gather this information." Students who participate in the survey will become unduly curious about sex, Afton Healey, Alpine said. "I've never seen anything like this survey. If any one parent saw it they See Sl'HVKY on pae :t Thcv told board members they disapprove of the questions asked in The mestionairean.l feel the survey S have a negative impact on the students who participate. The survey has been formulated bv the Governor's Task Force on Teeniae Pregnancy Prevention. SinSclil District is one of H.,n "la c asked to lake part. 'P o s dents will be randomly am I atloine Scnol District plans to ! h 3 slat-sPonsored survey on ky SpeSpile tne concern expressed Heeii ral parcnts at the Nov. 24 Ab!ng of the board of education. Hj ul 5" district patrons attended monthly pUbhc information Wuhe'd at lne American Fork J W Scho1 with a handful of 'W "Posing their feelings about survey the survey." She said she feels it is up to the parent and the teenager - some teenagers might not feel comfortable com-fortable taking the survey. One parent at the meeting agreed. "I appreciate your willingness to let me be an adult and make my own decision," she said. Mrs. Healey accused board members of breaking the Sunshine Law by taking a formal vote on the issue outside a public meeting, an act prohibited by the law. Mrs. Lewis, however, insisted all discussions about the survey were informal. "We had an informal poll of the board. We did not have a meeting," she said. "There are hundreds of decisions made in this district and not all of them can come before the board." Supt. Cox said surveys are conducted con-ducted in the district all the time, including ones the district conducts. "Very seldom do I go to the board about these." eSurvey- (nntiuiie(l from Front Page would deny you the privilege of : it out to their children," she i told board members. "I don't think that the rest of us are going to allow i; this to take place in the state cf ? Utah." Marlene Holley, Alpine, expressed her concern with the questions in the ; survey, saying she believes the " material in it is "harmful to '; minors." Mrs. Holley told the board she eels, "this sex education will only ' put more fuel on the fire. I don't ''' thinksexshouldbeinschoolsatall." she said. ' Kent Walker, American Fork, told the board he believes questions in ff the survey that ask whether students have ever had sexual intercourse ; if they know what contraceptives do .; and what teenagers' attitudes are about pre-marital sex are inap-; inap-; propriate. Research, he said, shows 70 to 80 percent of Utah teens are not sexually active and, he believes, should not be exposed to the explicit i questions in the survey . ; '"This survey has been in for re-;;. re-;;. drafts six or seven times and it is i still bad. In my opinion, you can never make bad good," Walker said. Connie Nielson, Lehi, said she feels it is a "real harsh survey." She said she checked with the Governor's office and found it is not mandatory that the district approve it. "It's a choice. I'm rather disappointed you will hold the survey." Nadine Bushman, American Fork, asked questions about the survey, then told board members she is not only concerned about the survey now but what will be taught in the schools five years down the road in regard to sex education in the school. She said she will not support the survey. Mrs. Holley asked board members how they felt about the survey with four of the five Alpine board members saying they support the survey. Board member David Harvey said he opposed the survey. "Some of these questions (in the survey) are things the students have never even thought about, and that's what scares me." "I've always believed these things should be taught in the home. What are you going to do with the survey information after you've got it?" Board president Jan Lewis said that although the board did not formally vote on whether to allow the survey to be adminstered, Supt. Cox did request an informal poll of the board. Board member Richard Gapp-meyer Gapp-meyer said the governor has asked the district to conduct the survey, and "I don't think we should refuse. "I think we ought to respect his opinions. The opinons we've heard here tonight are not necessarily representative of people in the district." Gappmeyer read a letter he had received from a parent in favor of the survey. "I don't believe we have the right to deny people to participate in this survey no more than we have the right to force them to take it," he said. Dr. Blake Evans, also a board member, said parents have the right to deny their student participating. "If all 120 parents send back they don't want their children to do the survey, it won't be given," he said. Board member Linda Campbell said the district should not make a judgment about the survey - that should be left to parents. "I strongly feel that it really goes back to freedom of choice. I think people have the right to choose whether to have their children take |