Mommy Life: Mainstream Loudoun - now your teen has *real* help!

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March 9, 2007 7:09 AM

Mainstream Loudoun - now your teen has real help!

Two by Charlie Jackson representing Mainstream Loudoun as the actual mainstream of Loudoun. As if they were actually more than a handful of disgruntled agenda-driven people. As if there weren't thousands of Loudoun County students and parents - or Mr. Deltano himself - he could have interviewed for balanced reporting:

October 19, 2006: Group Objects to Abstinence Program at High School

(btw, students are given opportunity in advance to opt out of these assemblies. Only a handful out of over a thousand do)

March 1, 2007: Different version of sex ed coming to Loudoun
Much was made in some Loudoun communities over the sex education message the Loudoun County Public Schools system pushed when it brought abstinence-only speaker Keith Deltano into a handful of the areas schools.

Not once, but twice, Deltano's visits raised eyebrows from groups like Mainstream Loudoun, who didn't quibble with the effectiveness of abstinence but wondered why the school system wasn't promoting a comprehensive sex education policy.

But Mainstream Loudoun to the rescue, to help us parents figure out what our kids truly need:

Now, Mainstream Loudoun, the Unitarian Universalist Church and the St. James United Church of Christ are bringing another version of sex education to the county. Shelby Knox, who is now a senior in college, is a devout Christian and had pledged abstinence until marriage. But while a high school student in Lubbock, TX, Knox became an "unlikely advocate for comprehensive education," a release promoting the event stated.
Her story will be on display in the form of an award-winning documentary, which won an award for Best Cinematography at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005 and which aired in part on PBS' Point of View series. A screening of the film will be shown at 7:15 p.m. on Friday, March 9 at the George Washington University campus in Ashburn. The program is titled "What's So Scary about Information? An Evening with Shelby Knox" Following the screening, a question and answer session will be held with Shelby and other panelists.

Kathy Hawes, president of Mainstream Loudoun, said the Unitarian church was working to bring Knox here before Deltano's appearance. The church, Hawes said, contacted Mainstream Loudoun after Deltano's most recent LCPS assembly to ask if the group might have interest in assisting in putting on the event.

"We consider it a very timely thing," Hawes said. "It's an award winning movie and it's really her personal story. Often times that's a good way to start a dialogue on how to better serve our students and protect our kids."

Hawes said she hopes the event spurs conversation among administrators, parents, community leaders and school board members, among others, on how best to help students cope with sex education.

"Our children are walking out of these assemblies unprepared and misinformed," Hawes said. "There are better ways to teach the benefits of abstinence and better ways to protect our children. We hope that a conversation with Shelby Knox can help point us in the right direction."

Organizers note that the film contains strong language and mature content.

I've printed this article - which really merited just a mention in the Calendar section - in order to provide links so you can see the "alternative" provided for your consideration.

Ironic that Mainstream Loudoun complains Deltano has no credentials for teaching abstinence when he is an award-winning former middle school teacher and father of three who's put together a comprehensive research-based program - one which challenges girls to be more than sexual objects and guys to reach for a higher standard. One which urges teens to get real with their parents, if they've been sexually active (no blame or shame) to see a doctor, then make a fresh start. One which challenges them to be more than what sexual libertarians expect and commercial venues like Planned Parenthood encourage them to be. One which challenges them in the face of all the adults who think "They're gonna do it anyway" to think for themselves.

Yeah, I guess Mainstream Loudoun wants to present a more credible resource. Better we should listen to a college senior who has "found the light" - and at 21 is ready to share how the rest of us can deal with the complexities of raising children in today's world.

Just as Mainstream Loudoun covered Deltano's abstinence program and Charlie Jackson and the Leesburg Today have dutifully given them the megaphone, I hope many truly mainstream Loudoun parents and mature teens will attend this event and send me your observations to print here.

With the high volume at MommyLife, it's only a matter of time before what's written here will come up in the top ten search results for Mainstream Loudoun.

With the news bias and blackout of conservative letters to the editor in this County, this should help balance the scales.

Love,