Albany High School students in a Lifespan Studies class were handed a 28-question “would you rather” assignment on morality this week, and four of those questions turned out to be about sex — prompting the district to pull both the teacher who built the assignment and the substitute who administered it from the building while Human Resources sorts out what happened.
Interim Principal Kandie Antonetti told families that neither staff member is currently working at the school, saying, “neither the teacher who prepared the survey, nor the substitute who was present when students were asked to complete it, are currently working at Albany High School, pending a full review of this matter by our Human Resources Division,” according to News10. The assignment landed in students' Google Classroom on Monday, when a Family and Consumer Science teacher who was absent that day had arranged for a substitute to oversee the class while students worked through it, as reported by Times Union.
Four Questions, One Big Problem
The survey was framed as a lesson on moral dilemmas, asking students to weigh one scenario against another across the full set of 28 questions, per the Times Union's reporting. Antonetti called the sexual questions “inappropriate” and confirmed that four of the 28 touched on sexual topics, the newspaper reported. One question asked students whether they would rather lose their virginity in a teenage one-night stand or wait until marriage; another asked them to choose between having sex with a stranger or with someone they knew well, according to the same account.
School officials learned about the content on Tuesday morning and took down the Google Classroom link the same day, the Times Union reported. The Lifespan Studies course that assigned the survey is open to students in grades 9 through 12, the outlet noted.
Teacher Says the Questions Were Copied, Not Reviewed
According to what the teacher told school officials, the questions were copied from an outside source and were not thoroughly reviewed before being assigned to students, per the Times Union's reporting. Antonetti said the teacher has taken full responsibility for the incident, the newspaper reported. The district also apologized to students and families for any discomfort or concern the questions caused, according to the original reporting from WRGB.
The survey flap comes as Albany High navigates a temporary leadership shuffle: Principal Jodi Commerford is away from the school for several weeks for personal reasons, with Antonetti serving as interim principal in her place and Ken Cioffi stepping back in to temporarily fill Antonetti's operations principal role. The district has not indicated that the leadership change is connected to the survey incident.
A Familiar Pattern Beyond Albany
Classroom surveys touching on sex and personal behavior have tripped up schools elsewhere, too. In Utah's Weber School District, a high school teacher was placed on administrative leave after giving 11th-grade students a questionnaire about sexually explicit activities and delinquent behavior, according to ABC15. That 30-question survey, which covered drug use, sexual activity and abortion, traced back to a 1967 Ann Landers questionnaire and was handed out in a human sexuality class without parental consent, the station reported. Students there were also asked to put their names on the survey for a grade, and the district later said the material fell outside its approved curriculum, per ABC15's account.
Back in Albany, it remains unclear what outcome Human Resources' review will produce for the teacher and substitute, and the district has not released further details beyond confirming both are off campus for now.
