Eighth-grade teachers won't separate the boys from the girls to watch a videotape on date rape and incest, the Board of Education decided yesterday by a 3-2 vote.
At its regular meeting, a vote on the tape came up at the request of Board President Cheryl A. McFalls.
Mrs. McFalls said the tape itself deals well with the issues and is one every eighth-grader should see, but not in a coed class.
She was outvoted by other board members who felt boys and girls could benefit from hearing each others' views.
"It is a sensitive area and it deals with sexual contact," Mrs. McFalls said. During single-sex viewings, she said, "I think there would be more discussion about the topic than when you have boys and girls sitting next to each other."
The school board approved the tape in July, along with other materials used in sex education classes, which are not coeducational.
However, the tape is not used in those classes, but in the personal-safety classes in conjunction with a speaker from the Rape Crisis Center.
Mrs. McFalls said she realized this at a parent night she attended at North Carroll Middle School last month to view sex-education materials.
Her questioning was as a parent of a child at that school, she said.
She said she thought the board should clarify whether it wanted the tape to be shown in mixed company.
The only member to vote with Mrs. McFalls was Joseph D. Mish, who said the age group might call for separation.
"I know how they react," he said. However, he disagreed with Mrs. McFalls' description of rape as a sexual act. "I think it's more of a crime of violence."
Board members Carolyn Scott, Ann Ballard and John Myers voted to approve the tape for coed viewing.
The tape shows a discussion between teen-age boys and girls on the issues of date rape and sexual abuse.
"I think that would provide a good model that boys and girls can talk about things," Mrs. Scott said.
"The boys can hear what the girls feel about it and the girls can hear what the boys feel about it," Mrs. Ballard said.
"This is the real world," Mr. Myers said.