SUMNER — Diane Brown is known as The Puberty Lady.

“I’m also The Condom Lady, The STD Lady, The Empathy Belly Lady. When students see me at the grocery store or the fair, they say to their parents, ‘That’s The Puberty Lady!’ Some teachers call me Our Lady of Perpetual Puberty.”

For 25 years Brown has taught “Puberty Happens” to fifth-graders in 93 schools in Androscoggin, Oxford and Franklin counties. The two-day, two-hour class was offered by Family Planning and Western Maine Community Action.

Cuts in federal funding eliminated Brown’s classroom visits at the end of this school year.  She will, however, coach classroom teachers on how to teach what to many is an awkward subject: puberty and other facts of life.

Fifth-grade teacher D’Ann Savage at Hartford-Sumner Elementary School said Brown will leave a void.

The first time she watched Brown teach, Savage said, her jaw dropped at how comfortable Brown made the kids feel. “Her cute little giggles. She allows the kids to be comfortable in their discomfort.”

Three years ago, Savage moved from the eighth grade to the fifth grade and was unhappy to find puberty was part of the curriculum. To her relief, other teachers said she wouldn’t have to teach it. They said, “Calm down, we just called Diane Brown.’”

Before Brown teaches a class, she holds a parents’ night and goes over everything “from A to Z” that she’ll teach. Parents have the option of pulling their child out of the class. Few do, Brown said.

The first parent meeting Savage attended, she had the same question as some parents: Do fifth-graders really need to know all this?

Yes, Brown said. They need to understand, and respect, how their bodies will soon change from children to adults. The knowledge would help them make good decisions and keep them from worrying needlessly, she said.

Brown said that in her years of teaching, she learned that some girls, when they first got their periods, thought they were dying. “Then it went away,” Brown said. “They thought it had healed. Then it came back again. They finally told their parents, thinking they may have to make funeral arrangements. They didn’t know it was a healthy thing.”

In class

During the class, students use the proper, scientific words for body parts. “If someone touched them in an inappropriate way and they needed help, if they went to an adult and said, ‘That person tried to touch my peaches,’ nobody would know what they were talking about,” Brown said.

In teaching puberty, respect and humor are important, she said.

When she enters a class, she smiles. “I come in and I’m happy,” Brown said. “I love this.” She lets students know she’s glad to be there.

Brown acknowledges to students that they may feel uncomfortable. They may need to laugh or giggle. Don’t hold back, she coaches, but don’t laugh so loudly that others can’t hear the teacher.

Boys and girls are taught together because when they’re separated, “they prank each other about what was said in class,” Brown said. “This way they’re much more respectful.” And teaching both demystifies the subject and illustrates that they all will go through changes, although the boys are typically later.

As Brown traveled from school to school, she carried several totes. In one was a woven basket with latex models of body parts.

“These are called Jackson Models,” Brown said. “I’m a visual learner myself. This is an actual-size uterus,” she said, holding a latex model.

She explained to fifth-graders that when they see a pregnant woman, “that’s not their stomach sticking out. It’s their uterus.”

Other models include a 3-month-old fetus, a 6-month-old fetus, and the inner workings of the male reproductive organ.

Saying goodbye

Brown said she’ll miss being the puberty lady and all of the other “endearing” titles. The job has been fun, a pleasure and a privilege, she said.

Parent Terry Foss said it was sad to see Brown disappear from classrooms. She was surprised by some things her son learned.

“But at this age, it’s time for them to get the education and more of the specifics,” Foss said. “She is the perfect person to do this. The way she explains things, it’s not scary.”

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SUMNER — When Diane Brown teaches “Puberty Happens” to fifth-graders, she collects anonymous questions and comments from students.

“Why do you have a period every month? What happens if I have it at school?” one student asked. Other questions included: “Why do you have sex to have a baby? Why is it so gross?”

Fifth-grade students at the Hartford-Sumner Elementary School said they were glad they took the class.

“It was a bit scary at first, but after a while you get used to it,” said Deven Finnegan, 11. “I learned a lot.”

When asked what, he paused, then gave a thoughtful answer. “That you’re not the only one who’s going through it. You’re going to be growing from a kid to an adult.”

Courtney Tremblay and Chelsie St. Laurent agreed the class was helpful. Chelsie said her parents were surprised by what she knew. Tremblay said her mother was also taught by Diane Brown.

Derek Salisbury said the class was weird at first, but he grew more comfortable with the subject. “She teaches stuff you need to learn and a little more detail. I think it’s going to help me becoming an adult.”