Controversial Sex Ed Curriculum Tackled By Chatham School Board

CHATHAM, NJ — It's one of the most contentious educational issues in recent years: New Jersey's updated curriculum for comprehensive physical and health education.

At this week's board of education meeting, members of the board attempted to soothe parents' concerns about the new state health and physical education standards by being more transparent about the updated curriculum.

According to Susan Ross, a member of the board's curriculum committee, around 1,700 pages of the updated curriculum have been uploaded to the district's website and cover all subjects from kindergarten to 12th grade.

Each document describes the standards being taught and what students are expected to learn at the end of each unit, as well as any additional resources that a teacher may use during the lesson.

"We think having these available will hopefully help parents understand what's being taught in units where there have been many questions in the past few board meetings such as the health and phys ed updated standards," Ross said.

According to the board, the curriculum committee also met with Mary Donohue, the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, to discuss how the district plans to handle the transition to the new health standards for the upcoming school year.

"In addition to being able to review the curriculum documents, parents are also going to receive the scripted video lesson about a week before they are going to be shown in the classrooms so that they can make an educated decision about whether they want their child to be in the lesson or to opt-out," Ross said.

Michelle Clark, chairman of the curriculum committee, confirmed with Chatham Superintendent Michael LaSusa that there are only two instances where students can opt-out. One is for sexual health-related health and PE lessons, and the other is for animal dissection classes.

"The board believes the transparency in this proactive approach will alleviate a lot of the concerns that have arisen coming from the updated New Jersey standards for health and physical education," Ross said.

There will also be an option for a webinar later this fall that will be facilitated by a Rutgers organization for parents who want to have more information and explore the contents of the new standards.

According to the board, more information will be distributed once the details are available.

"I am encouraging everyone to start this year and recognize that our teachers are here for the betterment of our kids and they are here to make our students stronger, inquisitive, smart, and capable students. I don't believe that any teacher is here to do any harm," continues Clark. "If you are not comfortable, please opt-out."