-- From "Ventura High sex survey draws ire of parents" by Marjorie Hernandez, Ventura County Star 2/23/10
Pacific Justice Institute officials said Tuesday that they plan to file an administrative complaint against Ventura High School for allowing students to participate in a campus newspaper sex survey without seeking parental permission.
Pacific Justice officials said parents in January approached the nonprofit legal defense organization that specializes in religious freedom and parental rights after they saw the Dec. 18 issue of The Cougar Press.
Included in the 16-page edition were articles on sex and results of a survey taken by 1,000 random Ventura High students. The survey questions included ”Are you sexually active?” “Were you sober the first time you engaged in sexual activity?” and “What grade were you when you lost your virginity?”
Kevin Snider, chief counsel for the Pacific Justice Institute, said parents Julie and John Wilson and others were upset that school officials did not notify them of the survey. He said school officials violated the state Education Code.
Ventura High Principal Valerie Wyatt said the student newspaper conducts the anonymous sex survey annually and questions are pre-approved by teachers. The survey was distributed in December and responses were returned to the school newspaper adviser, Dan Nelson, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
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From "Survey asks students when they lost virginity" by Bob Unruh © 2010 WorldNetDaily 2/27/10
The newspaper, in addition to the sex survey results, included a page of photographs of students revealing what songs put them "in the mood," a sex crossword puzzle and other advocacy for being sexually active.
The questions included:
* What grade were you in when you lost your virginity?Pacific Justice said that according to the newspaper, the survey was given to 1,000 students in every grade in high school. The organization said it was administered with the knowledge and assistance of the high school during second class period and had no relationship to any subject the students were enrolled in at that time.
* What is your overall number of partners you have engaged in sexual activity with?
* Were you sober the first time you engaged in sexual activity?"
* Have you or your partner ever had an abortion?"
* How often do you engage in sexual activity?"
* Are your parents aware of your sexual activity?
"The school allowed the use of instructional time to administer the survey and the teachers then collected it and handed it over to the newspaper," said parent John Silva, who obtained a copy of the newspaper from a concerned student.
"Because the sex survey was given without prior written notice and subsequent written consent by the parents or guardians, the school violated the law," said Kevin Snider, chief counsel of the Pacific Justice Institute.
"By facilitating the newspaper to conduct the survey, we feel the school was complicit in violating the rights of the parents," said Julie Wilson, a parent of a high school student.
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