Man Says Sign Pushed Him To Explain Sex To Daughter, 8

A viewer said he was pushed to explain what sex is to his 8-year old daughter because of a sign on the marquee at Americas High School.

Officials last week posted “Yes, we can talk about sex” on the school marquee, which is located at 12101 Pellicano Drive on the East Side.

The viewer, who did not want to be identified because he said he has relatives who work at the school, said his daughter read the sign while on the road.

“My 8-year-old daughter asked me if we could talk about sex, and I was kind of surprised where she had heard that from. … When I turned around to look at her, she was pointing at the sign,” he said.

Americas High School Principal Lucia Borrego, said the school could have have chosen a better word to put up there, but that their intent was good.

“It was to get as much awareness out there because it is a taboo sometimes. But because it is a taboo sometimes we don’t talk to our kids about it and that’s how they end up in trouble,” Borrego said.

The sign has since been taken down and the marquee is blank. Borrego said it was not taken down because of complaints but because it was promoting a class for parents that already taken place.

The class, sponsored by University Medical Center is part of a series called ‘Yes, We Can Talk.’ It’s aimed at parents trying to navigate through the labyrinth of hard-to-approach topics with their teens. The class was advertised on the marquee dealt with teen sexuality. The sign also had the date and time of the class.

“It’s a well intentioned topic for high school students, but by posting the sign in plain sight, it takes away the autonomy of the parent to decide when they need to talk to their kids about sex. And in my opinion, 8 years old is just too young for that”, said the viewer, who contacted ABC-7 on Monday afternoon.

When asked what the appropriate age to talk about sex to children is, Borrego said, “Coming from the elementary background, the trainings that we had with our counselors, 8 years old seems to be the right age because they’re starting to get curious and they’re starting to ask questions. But sure, parents should have a say as to when they want to share that with their kids, and I absolutely understand that,” she said.

Borrego said it was the assistant principal who approved the message on the sign, which was put up by the high school’s parent liaison and the student activities director.

“They seemed to think it was OK at the time, and maybe there needs to be a little bit more discretion because you never know how it’s going to affect somebody. And (we may consider) maybe not even putting it on the marquee now, even though we think it’s a good service to the community. It’s fair to look at other people’s perspective,” Borrego said. She added that she will now personally approve every message on the school’s signs.

“Even though it’s a well intentioned campaign, I think its inappropriate for the administrative staff to post that type of sign in plain sight of all the other bystanders, which in my case, unfortunately included an 8year old daughter,” said the parent.

Borrego acknowledged that the sign could have been worded differently but she said the issue is complicated.

“I think I would have put something like, ‘Do you have a way of talking to your child about sex?’ or ‘Are you afraid of talking to your child about abstinence?’ I don’t know, what is the right answer? Because you can offend one person one way, offend another person and it is what it is,” Borrego said.

She added that she understood the concerns. “To anyone who got offended, we apologize for that. But it was truly to help our students and to help our community because they’re tough topic sometimes.”