Thank you for your informative and insightful editorial, ‘Sexual Health Should be Standard,’’ regarding sex education in NYS public schools. You shine a light on a
topic that is indeed uncomfortable for far too many adults, but I agree “that discomfort must be put aside for the sake of the safety and wellness of New York students.”

It is a disservice to our youth that NYS does not require sex ed in its health education standards. While I applaud Haldane for offering some level of sex ed, it is far less than what many of us adults received growing up. In fact, the sex ed I received at the height of the AIDS epidemic in the late 1980s was more comprehensive than what I see students receiving today, in 2025. You rightly report STDs are on the rise, one reason alone to focus on safe sex education in our schools, not to mention the need for discussion around consent and pornography. Youth today may have access to more information online, yet sexual content without context can be not only confusing but outright harmful.

Haldane’s drug prevention curriculum, in comparison, is robust. Why the discrepancy? Your article raises excellent questions and does a thorough job reporting Haldane’s administrative stance, but as both a parent and taxpaying community member, I would like to hear more student opinions on this topic. Where do students seek information they don’t receive at school? Too often we in the community rely on official statements from school boards and school staff to guide our votes when we should also be listening to those most impacted by our decisions: the students themselves.

I am heartened by the creation of The Haldane Outlook to allow student voices to report, in their own words, on their own school. I look forward to reading more, especially on this incredibly important, timely topic.

-Kory Riesterer
Cold Spring

p.s. Maybe students should poll the adults in their lives as to why they are so uncomfortable talking about sex. Could it be many of us didn’t get the sex education we deserved and needed either?

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