BOULDER, Colo. -- Boulder Valley School employees who were involved in a school assembly where sex and drugs were encouraged have received verbal reprimands, the district superintendent said Wednesday.

Dr. George Garcia, superintendent of Boulder Valley School District, said he now agrees that mistakes were made at a Conference on World Affairs panel held at Boulder High School on April 10, 2007.

"I am going to encourage you to have sex and encourage you to use drugs appropriately," said clinical psychologist Joel Becker at the conference.

The topic of the conference was titled "STDs: Sex, Teens and Drugs." There was no talk of abstinence in the 90-minute presentation, with panelists assuming students were already using drugs and having sex.

"Now, what is healthy sexual behavior? Well, I don't care if it's with men and men, women and women, men and women -- whatever combination you would like to put together," Becker said.

Parents and students strongly objected to the content of the panel at a public meeting on May 8, Garcia said.

A school district investigation determined that while some of the content was inappropriate, the topic was important.

Garcia said in his report, "Overall, the panel was appropriate for presentation to high school students. Its intent was to discuss with students of the risks of engaging in certain behaviors before they are emotionally and psychologically mature enough to cope with their consequences. This is not to state that certain comments were not, in any context, unnecessarily crude or that certain points were not in direct contradiction with district health and conduct standards. They were."

Garcia said students should not have been required to attend.

Still, many parents said they applauded the program.

"I really feel that having conversations about sex and drugs -- it's very important to bring those things up with children and talk about the choices that they have," said parent Jim Parra.

Critics have Christian allies who on Wednesday passed out Bibles on a nearby sidewalk.

"God and his word has made it very clear that certain things are immoral and you shouldn't be doing," said pastor Gene Prince.

Garcia said he would like for the relationship between CU's World Affairs program and Boulder High School to continue. He said the value of the program outweighs the controversy.