Clark County School District board members should gear up for what is sure to be a big turnout Tuesday for a meeting to discuss sexual education in the classroom.
Parents from Logandale were readying themselves last week by preparing a strategy to voice their opposition to a comprehensive sexual education curriculum and the possible change to the district's opt-in policy on sex ed.
Las Vegas Sun education reporter Ian Whitaker was at the meeting. He told KNPR's State of Nevada that many parents are worried that the district will change the policy.
"They want to keep the status quo," Whitaker said. "They're worried it's going to be changed."
Currently, parents are notified when their child is going to take sex education classes and students cannot attend the classes without a signed note from a parent.
People advocating for comprehensive sex education want all students to take the classes, even without parent approval, because they argue they'll miss out on life-saving information.
The parents involved in Power2Parent, the group which organized the meeting in Logandale, are concerned that without an opt-in policy topics they don't want their children taught, like homosexuality and gender issues, will be addressed in the classroom.
A recent survey of parents about sex ed in Clark Countyshowed a narrow majority agreed that those topics shouldn't be part of the curriculum.
However, Whitaker said the parents at the meeting decided not to talk about specifics of any curriculum instead they plan to keep focused on their message of parental rights.
"They think if their kids is going to be taught about sex ed they should have the first say and the final say over whether their kid is even taught," he said.
Logandale, about 50 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is predominately Mormon, but Whitaker said religion will likely not be a factor in their argument, as it has been in past school board discussions about the topic.
"I think the reason they wanted to quash that is because to people in the audience who are not religious or their religion doesn't play a factor into what they think should be policy in the school district, I think it tends to turn other people off," he said.
The meeting is expected to be packed from parents on both sides of the issue and Whitaker expects the public comment section of the meeting to be extensive.
Ian Whitaker, reporter, Las Vegas Sun