Christin Willis was shocked and then outraged when she learned her middle-school-aged son – who just went in for a physical for football – ended up answering explicit sexual questions on a required survey at his school's health center.
The Oakdale, Louisiana mother told KPLC News 7 some of the survey questions crossed the line. "Have you ever had any type of sex – vaginal, anal, or oral sex? Have you ever been attracted to the same sex? Girl to girl or guy to guy? Or do you feel that you are gay, lesbian, or bisexual?" Willis read from the survey.
Willis didn't consent to her child being questioned. That only happened because her ex-husband gave permission, without her knowledge, for their son to get his football physical at the school's clinic. Next thing you know, their middle-schooler was pulled out of class to take the survey. His father was not told about the survey, either.
Willis told 7News she believes the football physical provided a loophole to get her son to take the survey.
"I don't even allow my son to go to the school-based health center. So the fact that he was questioned without letting me know is the most upsetting," she said.
Willis later learned that the survey is required for all students who use the services of the school-based health center. And without the survey, the clinic does not get grant money to keep it running. "I don't like my child being used for you to get money for a system that I don't support. We have a health care facility, we have a doctor. If I want to discuss sexually explicit things with my children, I'll do so in my home or at my doctor's office – his doctor's office," Willis told 7News.
Responding to the controversy, the Allen Parish School Board issued a statement saying the survey is one given nationwide and is part of the "well-child visit." But the Board says it agrees with Willis' objections to several of the questions and is "working to change or remove them." Additional funding for on-site health centers came from the Obamacare law (the Affordable Health Act), according to Breitbart News, with the support of the nation's largest teachers unions. According to the latest census on school-based health care, there are nearly 2,000 centers nationwide.
Many parents, like Christin Willis, see the clinic survey as government intrusion into the rearing of their children and wonder why it's any of the school's business to ask such personal questions of students. With clinics located in schools all across the country, the question is, how many parents know about such surveys, and just how much more outrage might there be if they did?
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