Health education rumors untrue
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Editor,
As a nurse and teacher in middle and high school health classes for Polson schools, I would like to clarify information regarding the Montana Family Foundation and their claim of “Teaching Sexual Details” in our schools. Teaching health education is an essential, yet often difficult, component of a school nurse’s day. From kindergarten through high school, elemental life processes are taught, emphasizing healthy choices. We do not, as the foundation would have you believe, promote any agency’s agenda, and we make every attempt to teach details that are within each child’s grasp.
As children age, their need for evolving information grows with them. Our health education programs teach students attributes of their changing bodies at developmentally and age-appropriate times, with parental participation encouraged at each level. Parents are able to either audit information prior to class or opt their child out of said classes for any reason.
We, as health professionals, attempt to educate students on a diverse array of topics to encourage healthy choices that we hope will last a lifetime. We live in a world that offers children many opportunities to make harmful choices. Please be involved in your child’s education and be careful, especially in this politically charged atmosphere, to do your homework, seeking facts rather than rumors.
Amy Nelson Knutson, RN
Polson
