Whitney M. Young Magnet High School principal Joyce Kenner cancelled a sex education program scheduled for April 17, 2018, after Sally Wagenmaker, parent of a student at the Chicago public high school, notified the administrator of her intent to file a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court seeking a temporary restraining order and an injunction against the school. Concerned parents say that administrators rejected requests for information regarding the 7th through 12th grade school’s decision to use sex columnist and dancer Nicolette Pawlowski for its sexual education programming. The administration had been contacted because parents objected to what Wagenmaker described as Pawlowski’s, “deeply troubling and extensive online articles advocating casual hook-up sex, pornography use, and other risky sex behaviors.”

Thomas More Society's Vice President and Senior Counsel, Tom Olp, appeared in court along with Thomas More Society Special Counsel Sally Wagenmaker. As a parent and a lawyer, Wagenmaker has raised serious questions regarding Pawlowski’s credentials, suitability to teach, and lack of proper approval to provide sex education at the school. She described Kenner and Zalon’s actions on behalf of the Whitney Young administration as, “illegal, contrary to Chicago Public School policy, and otherwise reflecting poor judgment against the best interests of Whitney Young students.”

In addition to the lack of proper parental notification, a presentation to 7th and 8th graders at Whitney Young on April 10, 2018, provoked outrage from students and their families. Pawlowski’s website lists her top credential as the CEO of a corporation that designs and facilitates sex-related programs that, among other subjects, focus on “kink.” She also lists her job as sex columnist at The Badger Herald newspaper, where her now-defunct column, titled Hump Day, featured sex advice articles, including “Playing it safe: Why hooking up safely with others is normal” and “Like a virgin: How to ‘ease’ in to first time.” A former position at Sex Out Loud boasted her programs about pleasure for adolescent youth; and Pawlowski states that her goal with her students includes fostering “independent investigation” into these subjects.

Chief among the concerns in the complaint is Whitney Young’s “last-minute, brief notification of sexual education workshops.” Illinois law requires the school to give parents two weeks' notice, the opportunity to review the instructional materials in advance, and the ability to opt their children out of such workshops altogether. However, the first and only notice of the programming came to parents via email the evening of April 8, 2018, about a workshop scheduled to take place the morning of April 10. No details on the subject matter were provided, other than the names of the presenter and her presentations. Additionally, no opportunity was given for parents or guardians to opt their students out of the workshops.

The complaint states that the “lack of responsiveness to several parents’ expressed concerns was in clear contravention of the law applicable to Whitney Young as an Illinois public school,” and in violation of parents’ rights. The filing details multiple violations of the Illinois School Code, the Illinois Critical Health Problems and Comprehensive Health Education Act, the Chicago Public Schools’ Policy Manual “Sexual Health Education,” and the Chicago Public Schools’ “Sexual Health Education Toolkit.”

Wagenmaker noted that applicable Illinois law and Chicago Public Schools’ policy reflect a strong emphasis on abstinence and avoidance of the sort of risky sexual behaviors that are advocated by Pawlowski. “Such instruction is mandated to comply with the National Sexuality Education Standards, which emphasize the importance of parental involvement and avoidance of health-risk behaviors through abstinence and other measures,” Wagenmaker explained.

“Those standards state that schools clearly have as vested an interest in keeping students healthy as do parents and other community members,” She added. Wagenmaker also referenced the Center for Disease Control’s repeated conclusions that student health behaviors and good grades are related, and reports that, “...students who do not engage in health-risk behaviors receive higher grades than their classmates who do engage in health-risk behaviors.” She added their conclusion that “Sexuality education standards specifically should accomplish the following: Focus on health promotion, including both abstinence from and risk reduction pertaining to unsafe sexual behaviors.”  

The late afternoon hearing on April 18, 2018, before Judge Anna Demacopoulos at Chicago’s downtown Richard J. Daley Center, drew two lawyers for Chicago Public Schools. Wagenmaker and attorneys from her own legal staff, along with Thomas More Society Vice President and Senior Counsel Tom Olp, represented the group of Whitney Young parents. Because the April 17 sex ed program at the school was cancelled, Wagenmaker agreed to withdraw the emergency motion but will continue with the lawsuit to ensure that the school will respect the rights of its students and their parents and obey the law.

The parents and their attorneys have consented to continued dialogue with the Chicago Public Schools’ attorneys to ensure Whitney Young’s compliance with applicable law and published policy.

Wagenmaker declared: “The workshop on promiscuous behavior was cancelled, and the problems are being addressed in and out of court. I’m counting this as a victory for Chicago public school students and their parents.”

Wagenmaker noted that Whitney Young is reportedly one of the most diverse schools in the United States, where many different cultures, religions, and world views are represented in its student body and their parents. She remarked that Illinois law and Chicago Public Schools’ policy “inherently respect such diversity by providing for parental notification, involvement, and respectful deference” and that Whitney Young “should serve as the vanguard for such practices” and “not be a shameful exception.”  

Read the Thomas More Society’s Emergency Motion for Temporary Restraining Order, in Wagenmaker et al. (parents) v. Kenner et al. (Whitney Young administrators), filed April 16, 2018, with the Chancery Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois County Department, here.