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Republican Rep. Bob McDermott and Sen. Sam Slom are slamming the Hawaii Department of Education and University of Hawaii for what they’re describing as a deliberate effort to stonewall them in their recent attempts to access all materials in the “Pono Choices” sexual education pilot program.

The lawmakers held a press conference Wednesday, accusing Hawaii’s public education agency of denying them access to taxpayer-funded materials that they suspect promote gay relationships and sex. Both Slom and McDermott vehemently oppose gay marriage and argued against it during the recent special legislative session that ended with Hawaii becoming the 15th state to allow same-sex marriage.

But DOE officials say initial in-person training is required for everyone interested in reviewing or teaching the content. McDermott and Slom are refusing to do that.

Speaking at a podium in the Capitol rotunda, McDermott displayed a blown-up image of what he said was an exercise from the Pono Choices workbook bearing a child’s handwriting. The student was presumably asked to define different kinds of sex, and wrote graphic descriptions.

“It robs them of their innocence,” McDermott said, adding that he was relieved that none of his eight children, including an 11-year-old daughter, have learned about sex through Pono Choices. “This behavior is unhealthy at best and lethal at worst.”

But McDermott acknowledged he’s only seen “bits and pieces” of Pono Choices — which is one of seven DOE-approved sex-ed programs that includes a teacher’s manual, student workbook and digital presentation — because the DOE and UH have refused to give him the course materials.

Instead, the department and university responded to his Monday request by inviting him to come and sit down with a professional familiar with Pono Choices so they could go over the contents together, an offer McDermott refused.

“I cannot make a complete judgment today because I do not have a complete picture … but if an 11-year-old child can figure it out maybe, just maybe, I can,” he said. “I don’t need a mentor, thank you very much.”

Slom said he got the same response to a separate request he submitted independent of McDermott. Slom also rejected the offer.

The Wednesday press conference comes just days after the DOE announced that it was following a during which officials reviewed the curriculum to address concerns that arose during the special session.

Pono Choices is described as a medically accurate teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection prevention program for kids in grades six through eight. It was developed specifically for children in Hawaii by UH Manoa’s Center on Disability Studies through funding from the federal Office of Adolescent Health. The two-week review, according to the DOE, concluded that Pono Choices is indeed appropriate for schools.

Controversy surrounding Pono Choices — which is already being used at 12 public schools and could soon be adopted by another eight — emerged when opponents of same-sex marriage claimed its legalization would force schools to teach about the “homosexual lifestyle.” Slom, during a special session floor speech, brandished a Pono Choices workbook to argue that the DOE is already teaching kids that gay relationships and sex are appropriate.

The lawmakers at Wednesday’s gathering described their most recent frustration as a freedom-of-information issue and evidence that the DOE and UH simply don’t want vocal critics of the sex-ed program to get their hands on it.

But DOE spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz said the department and UH require an in-person orientation session for anyone interested in reviewing the Pono Choices materials.


Pono Choices, she said, is a research-based, culturally responsive set of lessons “that needs to be explained.” The idea behind the orientation is that it’ll prevent content from being taken out of context.

All teachers go through training before teaching Pono Choices, and all parents are asked to attend a workshop at the beginning of the year at which they learn about the program.

“We’re not stonewalling anyone,” Dela Cruz said.

Read Chad Blair’s Dec. 9 column in which he explores sections that appear to be the most controversial, including one section that includes anal sex in the definition of sex as part of a larger lesson on how STIs can be transmitted.