STARKVILLE — An online petition claims a classroom presentation by a Starkville High School student involving condoms last week led to a teacher being removed the classroom.
A Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Board of Trustees member confirmed to The Dispatch on Wednesday that an investigation into whether the school’s sex education policy was violated during the presentation was launched after the incident.
The district, citing privacy rules, has declined to identify the teacher or student involved. Officials have also declined to say whether any disciplinary action has been taken against the teacher.
However, a petition recently created on Change.org alleges Sherre Ferguson, an English teacher at the school, was suspended following a presentation last Thursday by a student that involved cucumbers and condoms.
Discussing condoms or demonstrating how to apply them is barred by both school district policy and Mississippi state law.
The school board has not met since the incident occurred. Eddie Myles, its president, only confirmed that the incident is under investigation.
“The school board needs to hear the facts before making any decision,” he said.
Without confirming Ferguson’s identity as the teacher in question, district spokesperson Nicole Thomas said, “the employee remains a paid employee of the district.”
Allegations
The petition — created by a group called “The Napier-Sinclair Family Mississippi” — calls for Lewis Holloway, the district’s superintendent, and David Baggett, the school’s principal, to “bring Ms. Ferguson back to Starkville High.”
“We believe teachers who encourage, rather than censor, the career choices of their students should be celebrated not suspended,” the petition states.
As of this morning, it had garnered more than 2,500 electronic signatures.
The Dispatch reached out to the petition’s creators but did not hear back. The creators claim on the petition that the student involved is their niece.
The Dispatch was unable to contact Ferguson, who has been with the district for more than a decade.
The petition claims a student gave a “career talk” for Ferguson’s honors English class last Thursday. The student’s presentation focused on her dream career of studying sexology.
It also states the student gave her peers a condom demonstration — one involving cucumbers — which was videoed by another student and placed on social media. The Dispatch has not been able to find the video as of Wednesday.
Thomas confirmed the incident involved condoms.
Ferguson was allegedly “put on leave from the school,” the petition states, “despite the fact that (she) was not aware of the exact nature of the demonstration beforehand and did not allow students to keep the condoms (or cucumbers) from the demonstration.”
The school district, in response to inquiries from The Dispatch, released a statement Wednesday afternoon. It reads: “A recent presentation by a student for a research project that included material related to human sexuality and contraceptives has created a lot a discussion about what is and what is not appropriate for a classroom. While this is an important discussion, especially for teens, the circumstances surrounding the presentation have become a personnel matter, which limits the information the District is allowed by law to discuss. SHS is committed to providing a top-notch education for all of our students with highly qualified teachers, and our administrative team will do its due diligence to make sure that a fair result for all is accomplished in this situation.”
Sex ed in Mississippi
Sex-education in Mississippi begins in eighth grade.
Four years ago, the state Legislature passed House Bill 999, mandating that schools adopt a sex education policy — either “abstinence-plus” or “abstinence-only.” This was done in response to the state’s high rate of teen pregnancy, in which Mississippi ranked second in 2011, and sexually transmitted diseases, where Mississippi had the highest rate of teen chlamydia and gonorrhea in 2012.
SOCSD operates an abstinence-plus sex education policy, which requires boys and girls be separated into different classes when it is discussed or taught and prohibits instruction and demonstration on the application and use of condoms, among other stipulations.
District policy also states schools providing sex education are required to provide a written notice to parents no less than one week before the instruction occurs.
It is unknown if these policies were met prior to the Starkville High student’s presentation.
SOCSD’s abstinence-plus sex education policy can be found at: bit.ly/1MVLd2S.
The petition can be found here: chn.ge/1kDUdiD.
Dispatch reporter Andrew Hazzard contributed to this report.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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