So the school district in southern Utah County is having trouble finding a replacement for outmoded psychology textbooks at its three high schools.

Priscilla Leek, a Springville High School psychology teacher who sits on a district committee that reviews teaching materials, says the world has changed in the seven years since the district last chose a psychology textbook.

"Most publishers have now included small amounts - a paragraph or couple of pages - in texts about homosexuality," Leek said. "I don't teach homosexuality. But if it appears in a textbook, there's nothing I can do to keep students from reading it."

Despite their difficulty in finding new basic-level psychology schoolbooks, Nebo school board members told Leek and others this week to keep on looking.

State law bans teachers or texts from advocating homosexuality, but Nebo District's policy is more restrictive.

"Our policy is that it will not be taught unless it is teaching the negative consequences thereof," said Nedra Call, Nebo's director of curriculum.

"Our teachers would rather not get into teaching about it because it is a very sensitive issue."

Except for the psychology books used by advanced placement students at Nebo's high schools, district officials are unaware of any book that mentions homosexuality.

District leaders, however, note parents must give written permission before their students enroll in AP psychology classes at Springville, Spanish Fork and Payson high schools.

In replacing the texts for general psychology classes, Nebo board members want to steer clear of the subject altogether.

Leek says that might prove impossible, but says students' educational experience will not be adversely impacted if they are forced to do without a book.

"I can find current research material, selected readings and we have the Internet," Leek said. "I mean we're not living in a cave."

School board member Randy Boothe does not see teaching sans texts as an option. If gay-free texts cannot be found, he favors requiring students to get parental permission to take the course. Even then, he added, teachers probably would teach around the topic.

"They would just skip that chapter," Boothe said.

Gay-rights activist Chris Johnson of Salt Lake City is appalled by the efforts to avoid the subject of homosexuality.

"To ignore something does not make it go away," said Johnson, whose 12-year-old daughter is an honors student enrolled in high school-level courses.

"There are students [in the Nebo District] who will grow up to be gay. To not give them any exposure or education on homosexuality is unfortunate and only contributes to the difficulty gay people have in our society."

Valerie Larabee, executive director of the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Community Center of Utah in Salt Lake City, agrees.

"It's very possible for educators to be committed to a good education and also believe in having a frank and respectful discussion of gay and lesbian issues," she said. " 'Education about' does not mean 'advocating for.' "

Brett Moulding, curriculum director of the state Office of Education, said Nebo is within its rights to have a tougher standard than the state on instruction about homosexuality.

"They know their community better than the state office," he said.

A sampling of several other Utah school districts shows Nebo's rules are not the norm. Teachers in Alpine School District in Utah County, the state's fourth-largest, employ a more lenient standard.

"We don't exclude the mention of homosexuality," said Sam Jarman, Alpine District administrator over high schools and adult education.

Nor does Alpine require teachers to talk about the "negative consequences" of being gay if the topic is raised. Neither do the Provo and Salt Lake City school districts.

"Our policy is that if any material might be sensitive or offensive, a reading list of books is put together for parents to read and opt out [of enrolling their students] if they want to," Salt Lake City District spokesman Jason Olsen said.

Based on her understanding of Nebo's standard, Leek is leery about discussing gays or lesbians.

"If I have a student who asks a question, I'm allowed to give an honest and correct answer. Then I'm supposed to close the discussion. But I am not to bring up the information. We don't discuss it."

meddington@sltrib.com