Outsiders May Be Barred From AIDS Teaching : Thousand Oaks: School officials will consider a proposal to allow only health staff to instruct students on sensitive subjects.

Thousand Oaks school officials tonight will consider revising their sex-education policy so that no guest speakers would be allowed to teach students about AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases.

The proposed requirement that only health teachers be allowed to instruct on sensitive subject matters is meant to ensure that all students receive the same Board of Education-approved information, Supt. Bill Seaver of the Conejo Valley Unified School District said.

“It’s designed to make instruction in that area uniform,” Seaver said.

Under current policy, teachers can invite knowledgeable outside speakers to address students on any topic covered in the Family Life Education Curriculum, which includes human development and reproduction in addition to sexually transmitted diseases.

In the past, teachers have brought in speakers from the Ventura County Public Health Department, Planned Parenthood and other nonprofit health organizations to discuss various topics, Seaver said.

None of those speakers have provoked any complaints. However, Seaver said, “the board feels that teachers whom we have employed for us, who are people we know are trained to do the lessons, should teach about AIDS.”

The district board tonight will consider the proposed change and two other revisions requested by board members since their February approval of a controversial pamphlet promoting sexual abstinence.

Some parents objected to the pamphlet because it was published by a conservative religious group and contained a list of recommended readings that included references to God.

After a contentious public hearing, half of the pamphlet was approved, with the reading list removed.

A group of parents and the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit, alleging that the board’s action violated the state Constitution’s prohibition against teaching religion in public schools.

Since then, the board has sought to ensure that the district’s curriculum is appropriate and that the methods for updating it are working as intended, Seaver said.

In one recommended change, the 12 members of a committee that reviews updates to the sex-education curriculum would be limited to two consecutive two-year terms. The committee includes teachers, parents, a school board member, clergy and doctors.

“We want to make sure we rotate them through there,” Seaver said.

The other recommendation that the board will consider would provide health teachers with instruction by the district in addition to their state-mandated training. At those training sessions, the district’s teachers could share ideas and techniques with each other, Seaver said.