Abstinece Ed: Ignoring NCLB Teacher QualityRequirements

I'm not sure if this is the case in other states, but I was surprised to learn that in Louisiana the only requirement for volunteer teachers for the abstinence only program is that they "must care about the health and well being of young people and believe wholeheartedly in the abstinence message."

Volunteer "abstinence teachers" don't have to have a teaching certificate nor do they have to have a college degree.

This flies in direct opposition to the No Child Left Behind Act. NCLB only requires that teachers of core subjects be highly qualified, so that requirement doesn't apply here. However, the Act does address the role orf "paraprofessionals or eachers' aides" in the classroom. 

While paraprofessionals or teachers' aides are valuable assets to many learning communities, they are not qualified to fill the role of teachers--a role which, unfortunately, many have been called upon to fill, especially in schools that are under-staffed. No Child Left Behind is clear that teachers' aides may provide instructional support services only under the direct supervision of a teacher. In addition, the law allows teachers' aides to facilitate instruction only if they have met certain academic requirements: They must have at least an associate's degree or two years of college, or they must meet a rigorous standard of quality through a formal state or local assessment. If a paraprofessional's role does not involve facilitating instruction--such as serving as a hall monitor--that person does not have to meet the same academic requirements. But, in order to provide instructional support services, an aide or paraprofessional must have the academic background required by No Child Left Behind. (Dept. of Ed web site on NCLB)

Why are those teaching abstinence exempt from the law?

Comments

[Jim]

Pathetic thing is that these jerk-offs can't hide the fact that their real agenda is to restrict sex to a purely reproductive activity. I got into an online argument with one of these repressed sad sacks and she tried to reduce the argument to "personal responisbility". LMAO, she also shut up entirely when I asked her if she'd ever had an orgasm.

[eRobin]

Wow - I didn't know that. Well, to be fair, you don't need a lot of education to tell kids fairy tales about the joy of abstinence and lies about the efficacy of condoms. In fact, any kind of professional training would probably get in the way of that. This also may open the door to allowing clergy members to get the position?? I'm just brainstorming. It's hard to know what these people are thinking half the time.