Sex Education Plan In Toms River Leaves Controversial Parts To Parents

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The Toms River Regional Board of Education is set to vote Wednesday on the controversial updated sex education curriculum, after months of criticism from some parents in the district.

On Monday, district administrators presented the outline of how the Toms River Schools plan to implement the updated curriculum standards, which have been a source of controversy for more than a year in the district.

Under that outline, the most controversial elements of the standards will be left to parents and guardians to discuss with their children.

In addition, the district will require a response from parents or guardians to notifications when the lessons are scheduled to be taught in their children's classes. Parents will be able to opt their children out of the lessons, a provision that has been part of New Jersey's sex education standards since 1980.

Parents will have the opportunity to preview the lesson plans and the notification will state when the lessons are set to be presented.

The presentation can be found here.

Parents who oppose the curriculum update, which was approved by the New Jersey State Board of Education in 2020 and affirmed by acting Commissioner of Education Angelica Allen-McMillan earlier this year, have objected in particular to information in the learning standards for elementary school students.

Some parents object to the inclusion of diversity objectives that have been part of the state's curriculum standards for a few years with regard to including LGBTQ representation in other areas because they go against their religious beliefs, calling the inclusion of mentions of LGBTQ immoral.

Other parents, who spoke out for the first time in Toms River, supported the curriculum updates, saying they allow their children to see their families reflected and included in schools.

In schools where there is an inclusive curriculum, students were less likely to feel unsafe, and there were overall lower levels of bullying," said Samantha Hansen, a parent and Toms River Schools alumnus who is a policy director for Garden State Equality. "Kindness, acceptance and a safe and supportive learning environment which is representative of all students and their families is something we should all be for."

"I want to be able to send my future children to school in a town where they'll be able to learn about families who look like ours and they'll be proud to talk about their two moms, not ashamed," she said.

The public portion of Wednesday's meeting is set for 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium at Toms River High School North.