St. Johns Public Schools doesn’t name members of sex education advisory board

When kids go to school, they’re expected to learn to read, write, do math, and more. But other parts of the school curriculum are less straightforward, such as what a school district teaches kids about sex. Parents often want to know who’s shaping curriculum for their kids, but not all schools publicly name those people.

St. Johns Public Schools doesn’t explicitly name the members of its Sex Education Advisory Board in its meeting minutes, which bothers some residents. A woman named Theresa Owens used a Facebook group to complain about the practice.

The March 16 board meeting minutes do not list the names of committee members, instead identifying them by number.

3.16.26 Meeting Minutes by mcclallen

CapCon obtained most of the members’ names through a public records request. The names of two students on the board were redacted for privacy reasons, Superintendent Anthony Berthiaume told Michigan Capitol in an email.

“I believed it was important to protect the identities of the volunteers due to potential concerns expressed on social media by members of our community regarding the topic and serving on the committee. We have consulted with our legal counsel regarding this matter and have complied with all FOIA requests related to the committee.”

The names of the board members are:

1. Mike Winkel
2. Nellianne Sherwood
3. Emily Martin
4. Brittany Johnson
5. Jennifer Jones
6. Lauren Parker-Thelen
7. Megan Stephens
8. Leticia Riley
9. Jessica Gleeson
10. Jessica McCracken
11. Alyssa Hart
12. Redacted
13. Redacted

FOIA Matrix of Participants_Redacted by mcclallen

In February, the U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation into the Detroit Public Schools Community District, Godfrey-Lee Public Schools, and the Lansing School District to determine whether they have included sexual orientation and gender ideology content in any class for grades pre-K-12.