Murphy Orders Review Of Controversial Sex Education Standards

NEW JERSEY — Gov. Phil Murphy has directed the state Department of Education to take another look at its guidelines for the state's updated sex education curriculum following an outcry from parents over claims that the standards are exposing young children to inappropriate sexual content.

Murphy's directive comes in the wake of several days of attacks locally and nationally on the education department's sex education curriculum standards, which school districts have been discussing in preparation for the 2022-23 school year, when the new standards were set to be implemented.

"I have directed my Department of Education to review the standards and provide further clarification on what age-appropriate guidelines look like for our students," Murphy said. "My Administration is committed to ensuring that all of our students are equipped to lead healthy, productive lives now and in the future."

Critics claimed the standards were sexualizing the youngest students by requiring them to know proper names for their genitals and through discussions of gender identity.

"Students as young as kindergarten will role-play about gender types and pressure to conform, and by 8th grade they will learn about vaginal, oral and anal sex," state Sen. Jim Holzapfel and Assemblymen Greg McGuckin and John Catalano from the 10th District said in a statement Monday. "Parents are confused and troubled. They see the left-wing state moving in and taking over their role of raising their children and passing on their spiritual, cultural and societal beliefs to a new generation. They don’t understand how this happened."

Murphy said the state's Comprehensive Health and Physical Student Learning Standards were formulated over five months of discussions in 2019-2020 by the Department of Education with input from parents, experts, and teachers, "to ensure that our students receive age-appropriate and inclusive health education, which is critical for their physical, mental, and emotional development and well-being."

"At a time when we must prioritize student mental health and academic recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is paramount that our standards also promote inclusivity and respect for every child, including LGBTQ youth," Murphy said.

Criticisms have come in from local and national media outlets with items pulled from sample curriculum materials that are not in use in New Jersey's schools and have not been adopted by any NJ school districts.

In a sample curriculum cited by Bill Spadea of NJ101.5, there is a section titled "Understanding Our Bodies" that uses the terms penis, testicles, vagina and vulva, and says the goal of the lesson is to ensure children understand the proper terms for their body parts.

Spadea criticized a portion of the lesson that says, "You might feel like you’re a boy even if you have body parts that some people might tell you are 'girl' parts. You might feel like you’re a girl even if you have body parts that some people might tell you are 'boy' parts. And you might not feel like you’re a boy or a girl, but you’re a little bit of both. No matter how you feel, you’re perfectly normal!"

"This is simply too far and too radical for most parents," Spadea said.

That excerpt comes from a sample lesson plan that was distributed to parents in the Westfield school district. Westfield has not adopted the lesson plan as its curriculum and is still in the process of designing the final plan, a member of the school board said.

"Unfortunately, our learning standards have been intentionally misrepresented by some politicians seeking to divide and score political points," Murphy said Wednesday. "At the same time, we have seen a handful of sample lesson plans being circulated that have not been adopted in our school districts and do not accurately reflect the spirit of the standards."

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

Murphy also noted that New Jersey law provides parents with the option to opt their children "out of any health lesson that they would rather discuss in the privacy of their own home."

The sex education curriculum originally was supposed to be implemented for the 2021-22 school year, but that was delayed because of the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

On Tuesday, Sen. Vin Gopal of the 11th District, who is the chair of the state Senate's Education Committee, urged Murphy to delay the requirement for school districts to implement the new standards because of the outcry.

Gopal said he reviewed the 66-page document that includes not only the sex education learning standards but also addresses mental health, physical education, bullying, peer pressure and a host of issues.

"Much of what I read in these articles is not in the guidelines. There is generic language on identifying gender roles and treating all kids, regardless or their gender, with respect," Gopal said. "Anything that is more specific than that is coming from a specific Board of Education locally."

On Wednesday after Murphy issued the directive to review the standards, Gopal said: "Happy to see they are moving on this and I look forward to seeing this happen quickly and comprehensively."

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