PENDER COUNTY — After nearly a year of deliberations, Pender County officials decided on a first course of action in the county’s use of opioid settlement funds.
State leaders aren t planning to make fundamental changes as they revise sex ed standards. But some reproductive health education experts and LGBTQ+ advocates see room for more inclusiveness at a time when lawmakers are limiting discussion or acknowledgment of sexual orientation and gender in classrooms.
Experts often credit comprehensive sex education, along with access to birth control, with reducing teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. Some schools are responding to a new state law in a way that could lead to fewer students taking sex ed, unless their parents or guardians sign them up.