Educators are concerned about how they’ll teach sex education this fall without support from Island Sexual Health, following news about staff layoffs after a loss of grant funding.
The organization says it had to lay off three sex educators, effective June 30, because of the loss of a gaming grant that formed a third of the non-profit’s educational programming budget.
Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association president Carolyn Howe, a Grade 5 teacher at South Park Family School, said she’s seen firsthand the value of Island Sexual Health educators in her classroom.
“I’ve always been so impressed with the work they do,” she said, calling the suspension of programming a “significant loss.”
Howe said she’s not aware of any other sexual health educators that teachers could turn to, noting how this change will be especially challenging for high school students who may struggle to talk with their teachers about such sensitive topics.
“Teachers are going to step in to fill the gap, but it’s a big gap that’s opened up,” said Howe. “We’re going to really miss working with those professionals.”
In anonymous impact statements provided by Island Sexual Health, teachers and parents emphasized the positive effect the group’s sex-ed workshops have had on their classrooms and children.
A teacher who hosted the non-profit in their classroom for 14 years said the workshops contain some of the most important information students learn during high school.
“I do not want to imagine the impact that the loss of this program could have on the lives of my future students and our community at large,” they said.
Another teacher said it’s important for students to receive sensitive information in a “neutral, calm, and unembarrassed manner,” which they say Island Sexual Health provides.
Teachers aren’t all comfortable discussing sexual-education topics, said another educator, who added that the loss of programming would “put pressure on teachers to step into a role they are perhaps not prepared for.”
One teacher noted that, while some educators are equipped to teach the curriculum themselves, they feel it’s valuable for students to learn from another source.
“[Children] come to understand that they have another trusted adult to turn to, another perspective to consider, and another layer of support as they grow,” they said.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Greater Victoria School District said that Island Sexual Health’s education team brought “invaluable expertise, neutrality, and passion to classrooms,” helping to connect students with outside sexual and emotional health resources.
They said that teachers will continue to provide students with sexual health education as part of the physical health and education program, and they will seek out guest speakers and experts as needed.
Island Sexual Health also provides clinical services, including STI testing, contraception and primary care, which are not affected by the loss of grant funding that has caused the layoffs — although it says many of the students who come to the clinic find out about it through educators’ classroom visits.
Educational programs lost gaming grant eligibility in 2020 when the non-profit was designated a community health centre by the Ministry of Health, which meant patients could become “attached” to the clinic’s physicians.
It’s unclear whether grant funding will be reinstated this fall or if classrooms will be without Island Sexual Health’s programming for the first time since the mid-1980s.
