New Sex, Health Ed Curriculum Approved By Bernards School Board

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — The Bernards Township Board of Education voted recently to pass the controversial updated sex education curriculum, after months of criticism from some parents in the district.

"These topics are difficult and frankly we are not going to get a 100 percent agreement. I think we heard a lot of that tonight. I think that is respected by everyone here and respected by the government by having opportunities to opt-out," said Superintendent Dr. Nick Markarian at Monday night's Board meeting.

All of the Board Members, with the exception of Kristen Light who voted no, voted in favor of the revised curriculum at the Sept. 19 meeting. (An earlier version of this story provided an incorrect vote for Light.) This follows the new 66-page sex education mandate for all New Jersey public schools that are required to start teaching it in the 2022-23 school year.

Prior to the vote Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum & Instruction Kristin Fox shared a presentation with the public outlining the changes implemented in the curriculum. (See the presentation below. It begins around 11:11 in the video)

"We were endeavoring to create a curriculum that is age-appropriate, is mindful and respectful of the community input we have received but also providing our students with an engaging curriculum promoting them to have an active, healthy lifestyle," said Fox prior to the presentation.

Fox noted the new curriculum was created by a team of 15 teachers and administrators in the district who worked over the summer of 12-plus days. The team had also sent out a survey to parents and held public meetings to gather public input.

The result was that the team took in some of the concerns such as limiting sensitive content to the end of the grade band required by the state. Essentially meaning in most cases the information is taught at the oldest level required for that band.

"A lot of people represented the idea of age-appropriateness and I think that is what we are trying to achieve and there is just a difference on what people think is age-appropriate which is why we tried to highlight in brief in the presentation that we are moving topics to the latest age possible in the standard band and we are trying to keep definitions very clinical without getting into a lot of description per se," said Markarian.

Some highlighted areas included waiting until Grade 2 to identify genitals or waiting until grade 5 to define intercourse clinically. For Grades 6 to 8, the types of intercourse are mentioned as it related to how Sexually Transmitted Infections(STIs) may be contracted and how pregnancy occurs. There will be no further details or graphics associated with the types of intercourse or pregnancy shared with students, school officials said.

To see the updated health and physical curriculum adopted by Bernards Township School District click here.

About half the parents who publically spoke were in opposition to the changes.

Cody Smith of Far Hills said, "In my case, is it really appropriate to destroy my eighth-grade son's innocence by teaching him about anal sex and how to protect himself from the resulting STDs?"

Many parents also commended the Board for their transparency in presenting the information.

Anna Forzani said that when she had concerns over the new curriculum she went to the school meetings, spoke with teachers, and did research.

"What I didn’t do. I did not pay attention to fear-mongering and I also did not listen to people who are trying to use these changes as a campaign tool," said Forzani. "The changes people are making a huge deal about are actually somewhat minor and to me seemed very reasonable."

"The changes were really made to promote a non-discriminatory inclusive environment in our schools and most of all to keep our children safe which is really, really important in this day in age. And to learn information from trained educators rather than from friends or the internet," said Forzani.

Inclusion and the feeling of acceptance as it relates to mental health and suicide among the LGBTQ community were a big factor in passing the curriculum, according to Markarian and Fox.

"The risk factor of suicide I think that definitely comes through and is an important aspect in what we are doing in the health curriculum," said Markarian. "That's definitely an aspect to student health that is clearly connected in the standards."

Fox also addressed some parents' concerns about the type of training teachers are receiving in terms of how to teach the students about sexual health.

"The teachers who worked on this committee are dedicated professionals. I am extremely proud to have worked with them. They care about your kids and they are doing the right thing by your kids having taught them for many years. They are sensitive to these topics," said Fox.

"The training that was provided to help them navigate things in the curriculum such as terminology and introduction to the vocabulary but also navigating students in their classrooms who are gender fluid, questioning, LGBTQ and they are in all of our grade bands. These children are in classes and we teach them too and we want them to be included and respected."

See below to watch the 3-hour Board meeting:

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