CA mom helps draft 'opt-in' law to help other parents

Shocked parents are learning about California’s explicit sex-ed curriculum including one mother who helped write an “opt-in” bill that gives parents more control over what their children are exposed to by the State of California.  

Denise Pursche stumbled into the role of citizen-legislator after confronting school officials at the Mt. Diablo School District, where she asked to see the controversial lesson plans based on the “California Healthy Youth Act.”

Stonewalled by the school leaders, she went online and found the classroom lessons --- and was appalled at what was being kept secret from her and other parents. Digging through the materials, she found one lesson plan for her fifth grader: coloring and labeling the parts of a woman’s genitals.

Pursche was further shocked when she attended a meeting for district principals and teachers, and a teacher openly expressed disdain for parents such as Pursche.

"One of the teachers in the room said, You know, we shouldn't share this information, the actual lesson plans, because if parents review it, they might opt their children out,” Pursche tells OneNewsNow.

When the mother of three approached her state legislators about creating a bill to make the curriculum more transparent, a staffer encouraged her to write a legislative proposal. 

"My initial reaction was can I do that?" she recalls. "And he said, Well, yeah, you can. In fact, that's the way the process is supposed to work.”

Then the work started. After researching the issue, communicating with the Department of Education, and getting insight and help from the California Family Council, Pursche found a legislator willing to work with her: Sen. Mike Morrell agreed to introduce SB 673 based on her proposal. 

A scheduled Senate Education Committee hearing on the bill has been postponed, however, so the bill will be reintroduced next year, postponing her effort to help other parents wrestle some control from public schools.