A group of school parents from Colorado are celebrating after successfully campaigning against the use of a sex-education program which could expose children to pornography.
EBSCO, an information services company that develops systems with pornography held deep within its databases, had become a staple element of the sex education programs rolled out in the Denver-area Cherry Creek School District. However, following widespread outrage from parents, the district has agreed to discontinue its purchasing of the program.
In September 2016, parents in Aurora discovered that the EBSCO databases, commonly used by libraries and schools for research purposes, contain stacks of easily-accessible pornographic material. According to a report released by the Thomas More Society, the EBSCO database system also “renders inoperable school internet filters and private, parent-supplied internet filters.”
Shockingly, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation listed EBSCO on its “Dirty Dozen List” — accusing it of being one of 12 corporations in America that facilitate sexual exploitation.
“We are just happy the school district finally is doing the right thing,” said one of the parents involved in the campaign, Dr. Robin Paterson, who stumbled across the pornographic material on her child’s school account.
“It’s taken two years,” she said. “But better late than never.”
“There is obscene material,” she told KCNC-TV of the system in June 2017. “Soft porn, links to hardcore porn, there’s links to movies.”
“I was absolutely shocked to think that your school district would provide this type of material to your children,” Paterson’s husband, Drew, added. “I wouldn’t want any child exposed to this.”
KCNC reported that, before the severing their contract with EBSCO, the school district paid $31,000 per year for access to the sordid database.
“The school district was not looking at this until we started pressuring them – going on for more than two years now,” Paterson added, noting the importance of parents speaking up for the protection of their kids. “Without parental pressure, it’s highly unlikely Cherry Creek would have discontinued buying EBSCO products. So we look at this as a victory for parents’ rights.”
The Thomas More Society said that it was on the verge of filing a lawsuit against the school district when the decision was taken to cease ordering the program.
“We don’t know if Cherry Creek had any information about the lawsuit being prepared,” noted Thomas More Society Senior Counsel Matt Heffron. “But we weren’t being very secretive about it. There were many people who were aware it was in the works.”
But Paterson assured that parental campaigning will not stop here.
“EBSCO still is supplying its pornographic databases to school children in school districts across Colorado. So we’re not done yet,” she added.
(H/T: Thomas More Society)