Adopting state health standards doesn’t mean teaching all the controversial things in it
When inquisitive kids want more information, teachers will be trained to tell them to go home and ask mom and dad about that.
– Dr. Lauren Gunther
OCEAN CITY – When it comes to the most sensitive details in the school’s new health education curriculum, the teacher response to inquisitive young students who are not satisfied with general answers is going to be, “Go home and ask your mom.”
Before the Ocean City Board of Education voted to approve the state’s Comprehensive Health and Physical Education standards late Wednesday night, Dr. Lauren Gunther explained that although every public school district is required to adopt and teach and a curriculum “aligned to the standards,” each district is autonomous.
“The curriculum and instructional resources that are used to meet the standards is a local decision made at the discretion of each district,” according to her presentation.
In short, the state says they don’t have to include every detail.
Gunther, the student services director for the district, explained the curriculum is accessible to parents on the district’s website. (At oceancityschools.org, go to the “Departments” heading, click on “Academics & Curriculum” and scroll down and click on “2014-2022 Crosswalk” to learn more.)
The online document has the new standards being put in place for students to learn by second, fifth, eighth and 12th grades. There also is a link to the state Department of Education document on why the curriculum was revised.
The standards are what students are expected to know by the end of each of those grades. The course of study to go with those standards are up to each district, she said. Every district is required to adopt the standards, however, the district gets to decide how they are taught.
There are three segments – personal and mental health, physical wellness and safety.
Parents and community members who have spoken up at school board meetings over the past year and wanted the entire new standard rejected said they were alarmed by such things as discussions of gender and learning medically accurate names for body parts including genitals by the end of second grade; sexual orientation, gender identity and masturbation by the end of fifth grades; gender identity and expression, sexual orientation and defining vaginal, oral and anal sex, and pregnancy options including abortion by the end of eighth grade. (See related story.)
Gunther said there are many examples in the state standard (located in parentheses in the document) that are not required concepts to be taught in schools.
As an example, she cited one standard to be taught: “Demonstrate ways to promote dignity and respect for all people.” In her slide show, in parentheses, the words that were crossed out were “sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, differing ability, immigration status, family configuration.”
“Here in Ocean City, as you can see, we strike through anything in parentheses,” Gunther said. “Teachers will be trained not to say those words, not to teach anything in parentheses. So, instead,” she said, promoting dignity and respect in the classroom would “look like students being taught ‘we can engage in conversations with others even if we may disagree on the topic. We respect each other’s personal space. We know not to yell or speak over others.’”
Gunther said after working on this for a year and a half, they decided it was important to set up guiding principles.
“The first principle is to hold standards on sensitive topics to the highest possible grade level,” which means if it can be taught from kindergarten through second grade, to teach it in second grade.
As an example, she said on the topic to “define reproduction,” it will be in second grade, not kindergarten or first. Then she explained how it will be taught.
“Our teachers will be trained to say, ‘Living things have the ability to create other living things. Humans have babies. Dogs have puppies. Cats have kittens.’ We all know kids are inquisitive, they’re going to raise their hand and ask questions about that. Our teachers will have a script and will be prompted to say, ‘That’s a great question and we want you to go home and ask mom and dad about that.”
The second principle will be partnering with school nurses, the district mental health and wellness team and New Jersey Child Assault Protection (NJCAP), a state prevention program with the motto, “All children deserve to be safe, strong and free.”
The third principle, she said, is to provide transparency to parents and the community on what is taught (the standards), how it is taught (the curriculum), when it is taught and how to “opt out.”
Gunther said they want parents to know if they find something objectionable they can opt their children out of that lesson and have a replacement lesson.
“As a parent and also as an educator, more so as a parent, when I started to see these revisions, my first reaction was, ‘Why? Why I need an objective behind this. Why are we doing this? Why are we revising this?’”
The more she researched and learned, she said, “I understood it is for safety and consent.”
As students grow and develop, it can be challenging and put them at risk for bullying, social isolation and more mental health support. The focus of instruction is that developmental changes and feelings are normal.
Regarding social and sexual health, it is to ensure students have agency over their bodies to keep them safe and protect them from pressure, dating violence and assault.
Young people who are unable to appropriately identify harmful behavior may not be able to accurately report instances of sexual harm or abuse if it occurs, according to her presentation.
Explaining the opt-out policy (board policy 5250), the school board says a student can be excused from “any part of the instructions in health education, family life guidance, sex education, or instruction that includes dissection of animals … morally, conscientiously, or religiously offensive.
A parent has to make a written request to the principal. The principal will notify the teacher, who will have an alternate assignment prepared that they will work on in another classroom. Students won’t be penalized for opting out.
Gunther said she hoped by explaining how to navigate the school’s website, parents and guardians should be able to look at the curriculum and find those learning standards they find objectionable.
To offer more help on that, there will be Parent Academy meetings on the topic at the primary school (Sept. 13), intermediate school (Sept. 14) and high school (Sept. 15). She said parents will be able to delve more deeply into the curriculum and ask questions.
“As a parent, I can understand many of the concerns. I went through a range of emotions to get to my understanding of the standards at this point,” Gunther said, adding it is OK if others do not feel comfortable with it.
She offered the following email contacts for administrators:
– Curt Nath, director of Academic Services, cnath@ocsdnj.org
– Dr. Cathleen Smith, Primary School Principal, csmith@ocsdnj.org
– Michael Mattina, Intermediate School Principal, mmattina@ocsdnj.org
– Dr. Wendy O’Neal, Acting High School Principal, woneal@ocsdnj.org
– And her own, lgunther@ocsdnj.org
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff