NJ Senate Education Chairman: Sex Ed Curriculum Is A 'Guide'

LONG BRANCH, NJ — On Thursday, state Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Monmouth), chairman of the New Jersey Senate Education Committee, revised his statements on New Jersey's controversial new sex education standards, calling the new curriculum mandates a "guide" and said districts don't have to use specific wording provided by the state.

Gopal said he just came out of a noon meeting Thursday with acting Education Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan and she told him the new curriculum is "a guide" for school districts.

"The 66-page document put out by the Department of Education is a guide for local school districts to implement those standards," said Gopal on his Facebook page Thursday immediately after the meeting. "But they don't have to use any of the specific words in their standards — only the themes."

But Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger (R), who represents northern Monmouth County, said Gopal is not correct, and that this new sex ed. curriculum is a mandate school districts have to follow.

"If you look at the bill that passed this, the bill uses the words 'shall,' not 'may,'" said Scharfenberger. "All of this is just backpedaling and panicking by New Jersey Democrats because they got caught doing this and parents are — rightfully — very upset. You can debate taxes; you can debate borrowing money but there's one thing you don't mess with and that's peoples' kids."

Gopal, a Democrat, also said he is personally uncomfortable with some of the language proposed by the state. The 66-page curriculum guide includes talking about gender identity to second graders and discussing masturbation with fifth graders. Another requirement from the state is that by the end of eighth grade, students should be able to "define vaginal, oral and anal sex." Teachers should "describe pregnancy testing, the signs of pregnancy, and pregnancy options, including parenting, abortion and adoption" by the end of eighth grade, the DOE guidelines read.

"No district has to (or in my opinion should) use the words '(masturbation)' or others discussed in those standards," said Gopal Thursday. "It is up to the school district to decide the specific curriculum and the word choice they use in their curriculum and make sure it is age-appropriate."

"I am horrified by some of these words I'm seeing in some of these sample lesson plans," Gopal told Patch Thursday afternoon. "And it would be totally irresponsible for a school district to adopt some of what I'm seeing."

In the past week, there has been a mass outcry from parents over the new sex-ed recommendations. After the outcry, Gov. Phil Murphy said Wednesday he will direct the Department Education to "review" the curriculum and "provide further clarification on what age-appropriate guidelines look like for our students."

Murphy also said there are a "handful of sample lesson plans being circulated" from various school districts across the state that he says "do not accurately reflect the spirit of the standards."

"Today is a victory for all the common-sense school board members, parents and concerned citizens who wrote letters, made phone calls and made their voices heard in this fight for our kids' education," said Tom Szymanski, director of the New Jersey Republican Party. "But this fight is not done. Governor Murphy has only merely signaled an intent to 'review' the standards, and we must remain vigilant so that he does not force his radical agenda on us once the pressure is off."

Some of the more controversial sex-ed curriculum plans were written by private, for-profit educational consulting firms hired by NJ school districts, said Gopal.

Any parent can also opt their child out of sex education.

"Any proposed educational content that is not age-appropriate should be immediately revised by local officials," said the governor.

Gopal, who represents southern Monmouth County, came under fire from New Jersey Republicans this week because he was the prime sponsor of this 2020 bill that called for more inclusivity in health/physical education for 9th-12th graders.

But that bill did not write the curriculum: The curriculum was written by the Department of Education and approved by the State Board of Education, a majority of whom were appointed by former Gov. Chris Christie. (Christie personally railed against the new sex ed. curriculum this week on Fox News.)

According to Murphy, the curriculum, which is officially called the "Comprehensive Health and Physical Student Learning Standards," was crafted over a five-month period with parents, teachers and others. He said one of the main goals of writing them was inclusivity for every child, including LGBTQ youth.

The NJEA, the union that represents all New Jersey public school teachers, similarly said this week that the curriculum from the state is a "blueprint" and does not have to be followed to the letter.

Gopal represents New Jersey's 11th District in Trenton, including towns such as Long Branch, Eatontown, Tinton Falls, Ocean Township and Red Bank.

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