Will schools that refuse to teach new sex education face consequences?

By: Mary Ann Koruth
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... Sexual predators, Schools, Jails.
..... The disturbing combination of words was said during a public session of the Garwood board of Education in May [2022] when a group of parents gathered to demand the district refuse to teach parts of the state's new standards for sex education New Jersey is mandating be implemented this fall. [2022]
..... "Anyone pushing this material in schools is a sexual predator and should be in jail," one women told the school board.
..... The small crowed in attendance cheered.
..... These "predators", she said, were slipping topics like, "abortion, anal sex, masturbation, puberty blockers, in-vitro fertilization, sexual identity and gender identity" into schools.
..... Not all her claims were accurate, Puberty blockers, for example, are not mandated to be taught to students.
..... In response, the Garwood school board passed a resolution stating the district refuses to implement the new standards in the curriculum set forth by the 2020 Comprehensive Health and Physical Education standards.
..... Of New Jersey's nearly 600 school districts, a handful are pushing back against the new standard including Garwood, Montague, Sussex-Wantage, East Hanover and Jackson.
..... The state has responded by saying school districts that "flout state standards will be penalized.
..... Districts are required to implement the new learning standards by law, said Laura Fredrick communications director for the state Department of Education in an emailed statement to The Record and NorthJersey.com .
..... "District that do not teach the standards will be penalized for institution and program in the appropriate curricular area," she said, though the nature of the penalty might vary. "We couldn't speculate because it would be a fact-specific issue and the severity of the ramifications could vary, as would be the case for other statutory/regulatory violations," she said, when asked what those penalties could look like.
..... Constituents of districts who disagree with how standards are implemented may petition to challenge board polices using rues in the Administrative Procedure Act, she said.
..... The state Department of Education monitors school districts using NJQSAC (The New Jersey quality Single Accountability continuum), a system also used for self-evaluation by public school districts, said Fredrick.
..... The push-back comes as school districts prepare to draft their curriculum to implement periodic updates to the Department of Education's standards for different subjects, a process that usually begins in the summer.
..... Many parents have reservations about including advanced topics in sex education, but the push-back is also stoked by right-wing activists and Republican politicians who say the state's new sex education standards are part of Governor Phil Murphy's administration's effort to usurp parent rights and indoctrinate school children with"woke" ideas.
..... The Garwood resolution, for example, was celebrated by a group called Parent advocates for Garwood )PAGS). the group circulated a flyer that falsely conflates the sex education standard with descriptions and lessons created by third parties, among it appear as if all of it is a state requirement.
..... Despite resistance from a few districts most New Jersey school superintendents responded by reaching out to their communities to assure them that sex education concerns will be carefully addressed using parent input and with transparency. Parents can opt-out their children form attending these classes, according to state law.
..... After a few parents expressed concerns in Lodi, the school district hired a consultant to design and draft :minimalistic and grade and age-appropriate" curriculum around the standards, said Superintendent of Schools Douglas Petty.
..... "I wouldn't say that there's been push-back, but I have received some questions and some concerns at public board meetings regarding our direction in implementing these standards," Petty said.

A controversy is born

..... The controversy began in April [2022] when the Westfield School District shared resources for sex education from a progressive group called "Advocates for Youth" during a presentation to parents. Links to the group are accessible form the Department of Education's website. this discovery was picked up by Republican politicians, who started a campaign accusing Democrats and the state Department of Education of endorsing resources from progressive groups by linking to them, attacking family values and overstepping parent authority.
..... While some school districts told the Record and NorthJersey.com they are resisting implementing all the 2020 Comprehensive Health and Physical Education standards. Garwood appears to have gone the furthest by adoption a resolution that it will not teach elements of them, according to minutes from its May [2022] meeting. The wording in the resolution stated the school board will not adopt any curriculum that requires discussing anal, oral sex and masturbation - some of these terms are required to be taught in schools starting this fall, [2022] according to the new standards.
..... "If I have to explain to anyone why I'm against that, then that person should never be around little children," said Salvatore Piarulli, a Garwood school board member and parent. He strongly supported the resolution that was eventually approved.
..... Eighth graders are required to know about vaginal, oral and anal sex by the end of the year, according to the state's new standards. Masturbation is mentioned only as an example of topics teachers can choses to discuss at the end of fifth grade while teaching about puberty.
..... Sex education has been widely supported and taught in the nation's schools since the 1980s because of research that shows it helps teenagers and young adults make better decisions about their sexual activity.
..... But changes to standards have always been contentious. In New Jersey, schools are required by law to stress abstinence and include discussions of sexual orientation and consent. The conservative backlash against the new standards has resulted in some parents' outrightly rejecting the idea that sex should be discussed in schools even among older students.
..... "Separate the kids when you talk about puberty. That;s how we learned it," said Piarulli. School is about arithmetics, English, history and science, not sex, said Piarulli, who stressed that he was speaking as an individual and not on behalf of the school board. He said he is against broaching subjects like masturbation at any age in school, not just the younger grades.
..... Garwood Schools Superintendent Teresa Quigley, who was enthusiastic about the resolution according to a video recording of the May [2022] board meeting, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
..... Natalee Bartlett, the superintendent of East Hanover schools, wrote to parents telling them she strongly disagreed with the state's "overreach" in the new standards and the district would teach sex education portion of the state's new standards during a period lasting 35 minutes on the last day of school in June 2023. this, she told them, would minimize the opportunity for children to share what they learn with each other.
..... "Pleas know that we will not change our current lesson-planning or curriculum offering based on the updated standards," she said in the letter.
..... References to sensitive content would be cursory, with no instructional guides related to sensitive subjects, she wrote.
..... The Montague and Sussex-Wantage Regional school district have also passed resolutions saying they will not implement specific parts of the 2020 Health and physical Education Standards. Montague Bord of Education President Barbara Holstein clarified in an email that this did not mean the board will reject the standards as a whole, rather it was voting to not adopt "specific curriculum set forth" by the state.
..... The state does not actually set forth any curriculum related to sex education - it lists standards and the districts have to come up with the curriculum.
..... The Garwood resolution also sues the phase "the curriculum set forth by" the state in its resolution that reads: Now, therefore be it resolved hat the Garwood Board of Education does not adopt.
..... The curriculum set forth by the New Jersey Student Learning Standards covered under the
..... Comprehensive Health & Physical Education 2020 NJSLS-CHPE."
..... It is unclear if the ambiguity in the language is being used to protect boards from penalties.
..... The Garwood school board attorney told broad members at a June [2022] meeting their position was "defensible," partly because of the wording of the resolution - which is very similar to the resolution passed in Montague.
..... Susssex-Wantage Board of Education President Nick D'Agostino said the district was not rejecting the standards but would implement a curriculum that uses "minimal and cursory references" to sensitive subjects. "We will leave the rest for the kitchen table," he said in an email. Agostino said the board is in frequent contact with their state representatives and "they are aware of our stance on this issue," he said. Wantgage is part of the 24th Legislative District represented by Republican Senator Steven Oroho and assemblymen Parker Space and Harold Wirths.
..... Jackson Superintendent of Schools Nicol Pormilli informed parents in an April [2022] presentation that sensitive elements of the new standards would be left to them to teach at home. Lessons for second-grade students will not be changed, the presentation said. The 2020 standards require elementary schoolers to be able to name genitals in additions to other body parts and discuss how gender stereotyping could limit behavior.
..... Second graders in Jackson schools will continue to talk only about how kids express themselves, by :wearing hats" or "baking with grandma," parents were told.
..... The district was not rejecting any state standards and will continue to implement them, but without using resources offered by the state, Pormilli said in a statement to The Record and NorthJersey.com .
..... a review of emails and statement fro board of education and superintendents shows that despite a lot of vehement saber-rattling form activists at board meetings and boldly worded resolutions, most stop short of saying they are rejecting the standard by refusing tot each elements in them. How the state responds to these districts remains to be seen.
..... The state does not require the curriculum to be approved, providing a lot of leeway in how the standards are taught. but it has stood by the standards and did not change them, said Acting Secretary Angelica Allen-McMillan, head of the state Department of Education in a rousing defense to the state board.
..... The administration also clarified thorough its highest channels that school boards and communities can and should use local discretion in how they implement and choose to teach the standards, and in accordance with the values of their communities. Murphy, Senator Vin Gopal, D-Monmouth, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, and Allen-McMillan all made statements about this.
..... A bill that addresses the 2020 standards by requiring school districts to publish the curriculum and lessons for parent review, before they are taught in the coming school year, [2022-2023] was introduced by Gopal in spring. [2022]

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