Sex Ed Curriculum Discussion Set For Toms River School Board

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The Toms River Regional Board of Education has scheduled a separate meeting of the district's curriculum committee for what is anticipated to be a discussion of the state sex education curriculum.

The meeting is set for 6 p.m. Aug. 15 in the auditorium at Toms River High School North, 1245 Old Freehold Road.

The Toms River school board typically holds its committee meetings on the second Wednesday of the month. They are committees of the whole, meaning all members of board are present. Some school districts form smaller board committees that make recommendations to their boards.

The implementation of the state's updated sex education curriculum, which has been a flash point in the district since the spring of 2021, is anticipated to be presented at the Aug. 15 meeting.

The meeting will be livestreamed but questions from the public will only be accepted in person at the end of the committee meeting.

The Toms River school board and administration have been blistered by parents about the sex education curriculum, complete with shouting matches and threats leveled at the board. In June and July 2021, parents demanded the board reject state mandates and violate state law.

Then Interim Superintendent Thomas Gialanella and the board's attorney, Stephan Leone, told parents ignoring the mandates was not an option. Read more: Toms River Parents Tell Board To Say No On Sex Ed, Masks, Vaccine

The Toms River school board in October 2021 voted to reject the "Comprehensive Health and Physical Education" policy, which covers a number of topics, because of the sex education requirements.

In rejecting the policy, the school board also rejected previously approved policy mandates — including ones that provided for recess for elementary school students, financial literacy education, suicide prevention education, accident and fire prevention, and education on New Jersey's Safe Haven Infant Protection Act, which aims to make sure high school students know there are places they can safely and anonymously turn over a baby that they do not want.

What drew the biggest objections at the Oct. 20 meeting, were the parts of the policy that mandate inclusion of the historic and economic contributions of LGBTQ people, African Americans, and disabled people, and diversity and inclusion — all of which were previously approved by the board and mandated under state law.

The board had to later revisit the policy and approved it to be in compliance with existing state laws. Read more: Toms River School Board To Revisit Mandated Curriculum Policy

Statewide furor erupted over the mandates in late March, fueled by 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 April Gov. Phil Murphy to order the New Jersey Board of Education to revisit the standards as a result. Read more: Murphy Orders Review Of Controversial Sex Education Standards

The state's acting commissioner of education, Angelica Allen-McMillan, in May reaffirmed the standards, saying the 2020 Comprehensive Health and Physical Education learning standards "are structured around three areas: personal and mental health, physical wellness, and safety."

"Providing knowledge is necessary for students to make safe, informed decisions at the high school level," and to protect them from social pressures and dating violence, she said. Students need to be able to "communicate clearly when their trust and privacy has been violated." Read more: NJ Education Commissioner Defends New Sex Ed Standards