New sex-ed curriculum is approved for Broward schools; exchange leads to arrest

Scott Travis, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
·5 min read

The teaching of sex education in Broward schools became a heated topic Tuesday, dividing the Broward School Board and leading to a public disruption that ended with the arrest of a district volunteer.

Debbie Espinoza, a member and former chairwoman of the District Advisory Council, which makes recommendations to the School Board, got into a heated exchange with conservative activist Deidre Ruth during the meeting. Espinoza was arrested Tuesday afternoon after a district police officer alleged she pushed him, an allegation a close friend denies.

The School Board voted 5-4 to approve the new sex-ed curriculum, which is less detailed than the previous curriculum but still teaches about condoms, birth control and LGBTQ issues in upper grades. Parents will be allowed to opt their children out.

Board Chairwoman Lori Alhadeff voted no, voicing concern about a section of the curriculum about consent, including a lesson where students discuss when they might be ready to have sex. She was joined by Torey Alston, Brenda Fam and Daniel Foganholi in opposing the curriculum.

Other board members said teaching kids to make decisions about sex is important.

“The statistics don’t lie,” board member Allen Zeman said. “Kids, even though they’re having less sex in high school than they did in the past, they’re still having a lot of sex. They’re making critical decisions, and these decisions are crucial to their livelihood and health.”

Related Articles

The School Board vote followed several raucous rounds of public speakers.

Many speakers urged the district to pass the curriculum, saying thorough sex education was crucial to help reduce pregnancies and HIV transmission.

But conservative opponents argued that it violates a parental-rights-in-education law, which critics dubbed “don’t say gay.” The law, and a rule from the state Board of Education, prohibit most instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity in grades K-12 but do allow it for certain health-related classes. Some critics also objected to young children learning the names of body parts.

One speaker said the curriculum teaches “3- and 4-year-olds about masturbation,” even though there’s no sex ed offered for pre-K students.

The meeting was interrupted briefly after Espinoza, a district volunteer who served on a committee that helped develop the curriculum, got into a heated exchange with Deidre Ruth, a conservative activist opposed to the sex ed curriculum.

Espinoza is a former chairwoman of the District Advisory Council, an influential group in the district that provides recommendations to the School Board. She was named the district’s 2021 Volunteer of the Year, said Carolyn Krohn, a friend and former chair of the council.

“We are not up here to teach any child about anal sex, vaginal sex or oral sex,” Espinoza said during her comments. She said the curriculum instead focuses on teaching children information to protect themselves, including that their private parts are “under their control.”

After she stopped speaking, Espinoza got into an exchange with Ruth, who was waiting in line to speak.

“Ladies, ladies, shh,” a security officer told them.

Alhadeff then called the meeting into a brief recess. Police escorted both out, at which point Ruth had a loud outburst.

“I have a right to speak. She said something to me. I replied back,” Ruth said as she was being escorted out, increasingly raising her voice. “You just don’t want me to speak! The truth is they are teaching sixth graders anal sex!’

While the sixth-grade curriculum mentions vaginal, anal and oral sex, the focus is mainly on abstinence from these activities, as well as potential risks associated with sex, such as sexually transmitted diseases and the importance of waiting.

Although Ruth had the only audible outburst in the meeting, it was Espinoza who got arrested: District officials say Espinosa pushed a police officer in the lobby.

“Ms. Espinoza was arrested for battery on a law enforcement officer after causing a disruption during a School Board meeting,” district spokeswoman Keyla Concepcion said.

However, she was actually transported not to a jail but to a nearby hospital “after voicing medical concerns,” Concepcion said.

Krohn, who was at the meeting, said Espinoza was having an asthma attack and had trouble breathing.

“They wouldn’t call 911, so I did,” Krohn said.

Krohn argued the police officer was being aggressive with Espinoza. She was angered that Espinoza was arrested while Ruth wasn’t.

Ruth has been escorted out of School Board meetings at least three previous times, the most recent one in August, where she came to oppose a resolution in support of LGBTQ History Month.

Ruth was allowed back into the meeting a few minutes later and told Alhadeff she wanted to “publicly apologize” for her outburst.

“But I do not appreciate coming into a board meeting and having someone say something inappropriate to me, and I respond and then get thrown out for doing so,” she said. “That’s why I got upset and said what I did.”

The sex ed curriculum must still get state approval before it is taught in schools. The district hopes to start offering it around April. No sex ed was offered last year.

The district last revised its sex education curriculum in 2014, but that curriculum was gutted last spring as district officials tried to align the curriculum with the more conservative direction state leaders have taken on issues of sex, gender and LGBTQ issues.

But School Board members said in March the recommended changes went too far and asked then-Interim Superintendent Earlean Smiley to rewrite the course and bring it back. That didn’t happen before the school year ended, and as a result, most schools offered no sex ed at all, other than a few topics required under state law.

Sex ed is usually taught in April or May.