2 parents, a physician's organization, and a "gay-straight" activist grouping are suing Clovis Unified, charging that the district is non providing high school students with adequate sex activity instruction considering it relies primarily on a textbook that offers abstinence every bit the only style to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies.

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The lawsuit charges that the Fresno County district is violating California law, which requires schools to teach about abstinence and "medically authentic information on other methods of preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases."

The plaintiffs say that Clovis Unified is putting teens' health at hazard past teaching students misinformation and denying them critical instruction about condoms and contraception. Two parents, the American Academy of Pediatrics California District Nine, and the Gay-Straight Alliance Network brought the lawsuit confronting the district. The plaintiffs are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), with pro bono help from the police firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP.

Clovis Unified denies the charges, saying in a statement that its family life curriculum "complies with California'south content standards while reflecting the expectations of our community." Spokesperson Kelly Avants best-selling that she plant no mention of condoms in the textbook used by the class, simply said supplemental materials encompass the topic.

"We emphasize abstinence," she said, "but it's not the only thing that is covered."

Plaintiffs betoken to a Nov 2022 report by the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, University of California, San Francisco that found that California'southward public schools have greatly improved the quality of sexual wellness education, but that many districts still fail to provide students with the consummate, accurate data that they need.

"We can really save lives with comprehensive sex education," said Tonya Chaffee, an American Academy of Pediatrics dr., in a argument. "The Cardinal Valley has high rates of STDs and unintended pregnancy. Sexual health education in schools is the only mode to attain many teens and should be a place where they can get reliable wellness information."

Aubree Smith, a plaintiff, registered nurse, and parent of a 17-yr-old daughter who is a educatee in the district, said her daughter and her friends did non receive the aforementioned quality of reproductive health education as students in neighboring districts.

"I think we demand to give our kids all the tools available to them to protect themselves from STDs and unintended pregnancies," Smith said. "Comprehensive sex education provides that information."

Smith said she and other parents first brought the issue to the attention of the Clovis Unified school board nigh iii years ago. Nothing changed until the commune received a "demand letter" from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the other plaintiffs in the lawsuit, she said. The district has corrected some medically inaccurate information in its course materials, she said, such equally saying if teens aren't abstinent, they will get STDs that volition kill their babies. The commune as well stopped encouraging teens to sign an abstinence pledge, she said, and corrected the heart school curriculum.

But they still are using a high school textbook that does not conform to California police, Smith said, and have not fabricated all the changes that need to be made. That is why she and the others are suing, she said.

Avants said a commune committee that included parents and medical professionals chose the curriculum materials. "The plaintiffs have a different estimation of the depth and breadth of what must be covered," she said.

Phyllida Burlingame, reproductive justice policy manager for the ACLU Northern California, said that Clovis Unified is well known for its strong academic program, calling it a "standard-bearer for the Fundamental Valley region." Only, she said, when it comes to reproductive health, "Clovis Unified is declining its students."

The lawsuit, which the ACLU says is the beginning of its kind in California, volition probable cause other districts to review their materials to make certain they are complying with the constabulary and what students need, Burlingame said.

"Our position is that teenagers throughout California need accurate information to brand decisions on personal health," she said.

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