2007 School Board Survey

AN ETHIC OF LIFE IN PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION

1. From a "consistent ethic of life" perspective, do you think a school district is in an especially responsible position to advance a consistent ethic of respect for human life among students?  A consistent ethic of life principle includes concern over major issues such as abortion, poverty, euthanasia, capital punishment, war, racism, nuclear arms and exploitation.   Also related is the interpersonal respect necessary for good relations in one's daily encounters.  Each and every human being is unique and important.  No person is defined by someone else's choices, and no one exists solely as a means to someone else's happiness.  The choices we make, as individuals and as a society, must be weighed in light of their impact on human life and dignity.  Do you think a school district can and should promote a greater and consistent respect for human life?

SEX EDUCATION

2. The Washington State Legislature passed ESSB 5297 this year requiring school districts to teach "scientifically accurate" (aka comprehensive) sex education, if they teach sex ed at all.  The typical comprehensive sex education program spend as little as 5% of the time teaching abstinence principles (Zogby 3/27/07), instead spending significantly more time teaching students how to put condoms on models of male genitalia and promoting alternative forms of sexual activity called outercourse, which may include showering together and mutual masturbation as effective ways to avoid pregnancy and disease.  In contrast, an emphasis on abstinence means teaching students about building healthy relationships and bolstering self worth and self-control.  What can you as a board member do to ensure that if a state required comprehensive sex ed program is used, the presentation will have the greatest possible emphasis on abstinence as opposed to the promotion of sexual experimentation and abortion?

3. What should a parent do if they object to the content of their child's comprehensive sex ed instruction?  What other options are available to parents, public or private, instead of comprehensive sex ed?  Please name them.

HIB ACT OF 2002

4.  A few years ago, the Washington State Legislature passed the Anti-Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying [HIB] Act of 2002, to enable school districts to reduce violence in Washington State public schools by requiring school districts to discipline certain harassing, intimidating and bullying behaviors.  Has this been a good approach to reducing school violence?

SCHOOL CLINICS

5. Should school board policy allow the on-site dispensing to students of birth control drugs or devices, give abortion counseling, or give referrals to off-site abortion clinics without parental knowledge or consent?

ABORTION

6. The 14th Amendment states "nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." The Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade, 1973, stated that "if this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant's case, of course, collapses, for the fetus' right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the [14th] Amendment."  The Court regrettably concluded though that "we need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins. When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of man's knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer."   Do you believe that life begins at conception and is present throughout pregnancy, and that, therefore, the State has a compelling interest in protecting that life from and after conception?

7. Is taking the life of a pre-born child though abortion ever permissible?

_____ No, it's never permissible

_____ Yes, to save mother's life

_____ Yes, in cases of rape or incest

_____ Yes, for physical deformity

_____ Yes, it's always permissible.

8. Do you support parental notification and/or consent before a minor (under 18 years of age) could have an abortion?  A judicial bypass of parents would be allowed when necessary.

Notification?

Consent?
 

PLANNED PARENTHOOD

9. Should your school district partner in any way with the nation's biggest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, which received over $305 million dollars in governmental grants and contracts last year, and aborted nearly 265,000 babies?  Should they be allowed to make presentations to students or provide literature, birth control chemicals or devises, or abortion services?

SCHOOL CHOICE
 

10. The Supreme Court in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002), held that Ohio's school voucher law did not violate the First Amendment's establishment clause.  It states "the Ohio program is entirely neutral with respect to religion. It provides benefits directly to a wide spectrum of individuals, defined only by financial need and residence in a particular school district. It permits such individuals to exercise genuine choice among options public and private, secular and religious. The program is therefore a program of true private choice" and "the program does not offend the Establishment Clause."   Blaine Amendments, as both Ohio and Washington State have, can permit school vouchers at times because State funds go to parents who "exercise genuine choice" in choosing where the voucher will be used at.  What is your position regarding the use of school vouchers in Washington State?

STUDENT RELIGIOUS EXPRESSION

11.  Recently at Heritage High School in Vancouver, students wanting to meet together in the student commons for morning prayer were required instead to meet in a classroom.  The students met anyway in the commons and were subsequently suspended.  Given that the students gathered in a way that did not interfere with other students, should they have been allowed to pray together in the student commons?  Heritage High School subsequently removed the suspension from the students' records and now allows them to meet for morning prayer in the commons.

QUALIFICATIONS

12. Please state your professional experience, community involvement, education and other qualifications for a school board position.
 

13. May LifePac post your returned survey on our website?  Your response is only posted with your permission. 

Please give your campaign web address if you have one.