Our Momvestigation on sex in schools was a call to action for many parents.

After our Momvestigation on sex in schools, parents began calling and emailing us with their true-life stories. One Mom named Mary from Tampa Bay, Florida says her daughter is so appalled by the blatant sex in schools, she begs to be home-schooled. When Mary, who's on the School Advisory Committee, brought the problem to the administrators' attention, they just said, "These things happen. There's nothing we can do about it." "As a mother, I was appalled, because you expect something to be done by school officials," Mary says. "But you don't want to be too vocal or complain too loud, because you don't the school to take that out on your kid." Another father named Tom from Houston, Texas told us when he heard his son talking about kids having sex in the stairwell, he called the school immediately. The principal's secretary brushed him off by saying, "Oh, that's just teen gossip. They're making stories up." She wouldn't even patch Tom through to the principal!

If you hear about sex in your kid's school, how do you affect change without making your child an outcast? We called John Jensen, Ph.D.—clinical psychologist, educational consultant and author of The Silver Bullet Easy Learning System: How to Change Classrooms Fast and Energize Students for Success—for guidance. Here, he offers parents his five top tips.

1. Get to know school officials. Open constructive communications with administrators so that you recognize each other as sensible individuals before a hot issue has to be dealt with.
2. Do your homework. Gather objective information that establishes the existence and extent of the problem.
3. Don't just make demands. Think through a workable compromise that takes account of the other's needs.
4. Get other parents on your side. Assemble a sufficient number of allies concerned about the same problem.
5. Stick with it. Take enough time to hammer out a solution together and follow up as needed.

"As you can see, each of these steps deserves attention and understanding," Jensen concludes, "but together they comprise an overall ground plan for addressing this issue." Remember: Parents can make a difference.