Strait school board to rule on sexual health programs

The Strait Regional School Board will decide Wednesday whether to end two school sexual health programs that a board member says are not run by the appropriate people.

Frank Machnic is putting forward a motion to deny staff from the Antigonish Women's Resource Centre access to district schools.

"Addictions or sexual orientation or human sexuality are sensitive issues," he told CBC News. "We're not talking about algebra and chemistry here. We're talking about things that have moral connotations."

The resource centre has developed two programs, one specifically for girls and another for Grade 9 students, that are being offered in several schools.

Machnic, a retired teacher who divides his time between the school board and his church, said staff at the resource centre aren't educators or professionals, and therefore shouldn't be in schools.

The head of the centre, Lucille Harper, disagrees.

"The staff person who works in the schools with Inspire is a social worker, and the curriculum for the Healthy Relationships for Youth program was approved by the Department of Education," Harper said.

The healthy relations course is valuable, said Chris McDaniel, a Grade 12 student at Cape Breton Highlands Academy who leads discussions with the younger students.

"I know some students have expressed their feelings of how it was really important for them to hear what we were talking about," said McDaniel. "They wanted to hear it from their peers.

"I don't know why a program called Healthy Relationships for Youth, why they would want to ban that from schools."

Several students have written letters to the board, asking members to support the two courses.