Alexandria public schools are now saying controversial lesson plans on abortion and sexual orientation included in guidance given to high school sex education teachers are drafts and are not being used in classrooms.

“The lesson plans for teaching about abortion and sexual orientation ... are drafts and they are now labeled as drafts,” school spokeswoman Amy Carlini said in an e-mail exchange with The Examiner.

The lesson plans posted as the 2006 Family Life Education Curriculum guide on a public page of the Alexandria schools Web site last week gave no indication the plans were drafts. In a version of the document posted on its Web site Thursday, the abortion and sexual orientation sections are now marked as drafts.

Margaret Walsh, executive director of secondary programs for Alexandria, told The Examiner last week the material did not have to be approved by the panel to be used in schools. Only a curriculum specialist needs to approve the guidance. The panel “is doing exactly what they’re suppose to do,” she said last week, “provide advice on what they think or don’t think of the course.”

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As first reported by The Examiner, concerns about the lesson plans were raised by Kenneth Wolfe, a 10-year member of the Family Life Advisory Committee charged with reviewing sex education curriculum. Among Wolfe’s concerns are the inclusion of language from abortion-rights organization Planned Parenthood in the section on abortion and the definitions of transsexual and transvestite in the sexual-orientation section. He said the language should focus on Virginia law, which forbids sodomy and requires parental consent for abortions for minors.

Carlini said Walsh’s explanation is incorrect. “The curriculum specialist oversees what is taught in classrooms,” she said. “He basically makes sure that what the school board has approved is what is being taught.”

If a majority of advisory committee members have concerns, they work with school staff to make changes. If the issue is unresolved, the school board reviews the matter and makes decisions about changes, she said.

In response to recent reports, the schools posted on their Web site and sent to PTA presidents a statement attempting to clarify the curriculum. It says nothing new has been added, that the lesson plans in question were not being used, and that students can opt out of the class.

Wolfe is the only member of the five-member panel who raised concerns about the curriculum based on its content. The committee’s review of the curriculum is ongoing.

Wolfe’s reaction:

“Now we’re getting somewhere. … We need to address the content. Now it’s time to … have the community involved in incorporating abortion and homosexuality into the public school curriculum.”

dfrancis@dcexaminer.com