Parents in Oakdale, Louisiana expressed outrage after their middle-school children were asked sexually explicit questions on a survey at the school-based health center.
One parent, Christin Willis, provided KPLC TV with a list of several questions from the survey:
- Have you ever had any type of sex — vaginal, anal or oral sex?
- Have you ever been attracted to the same sex?
- Girl to girl or guy to guy?
- Or do you feel that you are gay, lesbian or bisexual?”
“Children are naïve,” Willis said. “They go to school and know they have to listen. They’re going to do what you tell them what to do. If you put them in a room and tell them to take a survey, they’re going to take the survey.”
Willis, a divorced mother who shares custody with her ex-husband, said she was not asked to have her son pulled out of class and taken to the school-based health center to take the survey. Her ex-husband, however, gave his consent for their son to have a physical at the center in order to play football.
“Yes, joint custody, both parents have to be listed. Call both parents,” Willis read from the documents. “I was notified nothing of this. I have spoken with my ex-husband and his wife. They thought that he was getting a sports physical. They were not told he was going to be surveyed or be pulled in for any other reason.”
Willis said when she asked about the survey questions at the school-based health center, she was told children must take the survey in order for the center to receive grant money.
“I don’t like my child being used for you to get money for a system that I don’t support,” Willis said. “We have a health care facility, we have a doctor. If I want to discuss sexually explicit things with my children, I’ll do so in my home or at my doctor’s office — his doctor’s office.”
School-Based Health Centers were created in the Obamacare (Affordable Care Act) legislation with the support of the nation’s largest teachers’ unions. The law included funds to build and run clinics to give students free diagnoses, treatment for chronic medical conditions and mental health screenings.
Over $200 million in grant funds were appropriated in Obamacare for school-based health centers. The Healthy Schools Campaign and Trust for America’s Health provided Kathleen Sebelius, Obama-era secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, with recommendations for the development of these centers.
“[W]ellness is not relegated to an occasional health lesson or physical education class–it is part of math, science, lunch and everything in between,” said the Healthy Schools Campaign in 2012. “It means providing teachers with professional development related to children’s physical and emotional development, and integrating health into every subject, reward system and classroom management strategy.”
One of the recommendations that became a special cause for concern was that schools should “track health and wellness data, which would be used to make ‘data-driven decisions’ about how health and wellness impact student learning.”
Jeff Levi, executive director of the Trust for America’s Health, also said in 2012 the recommendations “represented a major culture shift in how the nation views health – health will no longer be separated from education, transportation, housing and other clearly connected policies.”
In a statement to KPLC News, the Allen Parish School Board said, “School-Based Health Centers provide comprehensive medical and behavioral health services on or adjacent to schools.”
The school board continued:
The screening tool was designed by Dr. Jennifer Salerno and is utilized by school health centers nationwide. It was offered as a reliable screening method by the state Office of Public Health for use in selected Louisiana school health centers. The screening questionnaire is conducted as part of a child well visit. The mother did not agree with the wording in 2 or 3 of the 21-question screening survey. The Allen Parish School board agrees with the mother and is working to change/remove these particular questions.
[T]he Oakdale School-Based Health Center is one of over 60 sites in the state of Louisiana who receive grant funding in part from the Department of Health, Office of Public Health, Adolescent School Based Health Center. This funding is used for the salaries and the operation of the School-Based Health Center. In return for the funding, these school-based health centers have certain medical and behavioral health services that must be provided at each site.
U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham, the leading Republican gubernatorial candidate in Louisiana, condemned the state health department survey that asks middle-school children sexually explicit questions.
“I’m disgusted with what State government is doing to our children,” said Abraham, a family physician, in a press statement. “This is a topic that should be addressed privately by parents and their children or doctors and their patients.”
“This is another example of how John Bel’s Department of Health is imposing its radical agenda on our state,” Abraham continued. “When I’m governor, I will fire Secretary [Rebekah] Gee on day one and reform this department from top down.”
Breitbart News reached out for comment to Democrat Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards’ re-election campaign as well but did not receive an immediate response.
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