Sex Education Decision Making At the Independent School District of Boise

Background: In a 2008 community needs assessment, key informants indicated comprehensive sex education was the best strategy for reducing uninteded pregnancy, abortion and STDs in Boise residents.  However, the abstinence-only policy of the Independent School District of Boise (ISDB) prevented the strategy from being implemented.

Objectives: To understand the influences on sex education policy decisions at the ISDB and add to the body of knowledge facilitating the adoption of evidence-based sex education programs.

Methods: The Communities Coping with Change Model provided the theoretical framework for this qualitative case study (Kelly & Steed, 2004). Unstructured, one-on-one interviews were conducted with two Board of Trustees and five ISDB employees. Archival records, documents and the 2008 sexual health community needs assessment were also reviewed. 

Results: Four primary categories of influence on sex education policy emerged: Conflict from the past, adherence to an abstinence-only sex education policy, the values of the Boise community and communication / bureaucracy.

Conclusions: Trustees and staff avoided conflict by strictly adhering to an abstinence-only philosophy. ISDB decision makers perceived a strong community value of sexual abstinence until marriage which superseded teaching comprehensive sex education. A bureaucratic organizational structure and competing priorities for education prevented communication between the ISDB Trustees, staff and the community. The ISDB Trustees and staff were unaware of worsening teen sexual health in Boise, evidence of effectiveness regarding sex education curricula or current research on local parental support for comprehensive sex education. The community was unaware of the procedure for bringing sex education policy issues to ISDB Trustees and the policy had not been reviewed since 1986.

Implications for Programs, Policy, and Research: Strong community support is essential to persuade Trustees to change the policy. The community must collaborate to present Trustees with the research needed to fully inform their decisions regarding evidence-based sex education programming. More research to understand teen’s perceptions of sex education and to precisely gauge community support is also warranted.