HILLSDALE—Approximately 50 parents showed up at Ann Blanche Smith Elementary School on June 28 for a forum on New Jersey’s updated health and physical education curriculum, including topics such as sex education, gender identity and gender expression planned for kindergarten through eighth-grade classes.
The standards are set to go into effect this September, school officials said.
Superintendent Robert Lombardy addressed some two dozen questions from parents in a crowded media room, as he went slowly over what he described as “sensitive standards” or topic areas that district staff had highlighted as potential concerns for parents.
Lombardy and Jackie Derwin, district supervisor of curriculum, instruction and assessment, provided information, historical context and answered parents’ questions during a 75-minute session, the first held by district officials on the new standards.
School Board Vice President Sal Sileo also attended the session.
Both Lombardy and Derwin said the new lesson plans to implement the state standards, scheduled for September start-up, should be available later this summer. Lombardy said parents will be able to request and get access to specific lesson plans once approved by the school board.
He said an opt-out Google form would also be posted on the district website for parents to use to opt-out children from lessons that go against their religion or moral conscience.
Lombardy provided copies of all state Department of Education 2020 Comprehensive Health and Physical Education Standards for grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12, plus a 67-page overview document that offers a broad-brush look at the entire updated curriculum.
As attendees entered the media room, a half-inch thick sheaf of documents that described the background, core ideas and performance expectations for grades K-12 New Jersey Comprehensive Health and Physical Education were made available to parents.
Lombardy said that “on average,” elementary school students receive health education one time per week for 40 minutes while middle school students receive one 50-minute health lesson weekly. He noted health lessons do not comprise “a significant amount of time.”
In the K-2 health curriculum, some sensitive topics included “use medically accurate names for body parts, including the genitals” and “discuss the range of ways people express their gender and how gender role stereotypes may limit behavior.”
Lombardy said the majority of so-called “most sensitive” standards he identified were actually part of the 2014 health and physical education standard updates, sometimes with minor changes for 2020. He said these sensitive standards are taught at the end
He said the 2020 state standards are only now being incorporated into local curriculums due to pandemic-related delays, with many schools holding remote and then hybrid classrooms in 2020, 2021, and into 2022.
In grades K-2, seven topic areas were deemed sensitive: define bodily autonomy and personal boundaries; identify behaviors that would be considered child abuse; and identify trusted adults you can talk to about uncomfortable situations.
In grades 3-5, Lombardy noted that the district would not be teaching about masturbation in grade 5 as recommended by the state, which drew thanks and applause from some parents. He said previously that was taught in grade 8 but the 2020 standards suggested it in a lower grade. That topic will not be taught in grade five, he said.
“We are taking it out, we do not have to use it. That will not be part of our instruction in grade five,” Lombardy said to applause.
Added Derwin, “The state has said you do not have to teach the examples; they’re just there as examples.”
State education officials have said that local school districts may teach the standards with their own customized lesson plans, which do not require including examples included in state standards. However, each district must meet state teaching standards. Districts are generally evaluated by state officials every three years, Lombardy previously said.
It was not clear if any further review of the 2020 standards would be allowed by the state attorney general’s office, which is considering a request by the state Department of Education School Board to reexamine the standards in light of recent parental and political criticism.
Derwin explained in fourth and fifth grades, both girls and boys get separate instruction from a health educator and school nurse about the onset of puberty. Derwin said the conversations focus on showering regularly, wearing deodorant, changing bodies and cracking voices.
Other topics that will be taught in grades 3-5, however, included sexual development and the role of hormones, romantic and sexual feelings, mood swings and timing of pubertal onset.
Lombardy said that parents should note the “core idea” listed on the left side of the state standards document and noted though a state standard — also called a performance expectation — might be “abrasive,” often the core idea from which it derives is part of a broader educational goal.
Nine “sensitive standards” were identified by the district for grades 3-5, also including “explain the relationship between sexual intercourse and human reproduction” and “explain the range of ways pregnancy can occur (e.g. IVF, surrogacy).”
One parent wanted to know how a teacher would handle a sensitive topic brought up in another class besides health. She was told by Lombardy that the topic would be addressed as possibly inappropriate or possibly steered back for further classroom followup.
At one point, Lombardy mentioned he had to talk to his young daughter, a third-grader, about a product advertised on a major network TV commercial where two men were shown kissing.
“There is no way to perfectly — and I’m speaking to you as a parent now — perfectly shelter all of our children from all of these different topics. They’re going to see things on TV, or via the shows they watch, if they have a smart phone in fifth, or sixth, or seventh, or eighth grade. They have endless lines of access, so these things are out there,” he said.
Several times during the session parents asked about how to opt out of lesson plans that went against their religion or conscience. Both officials said when final lesson plans come out in July/August, and parents request to review specific lessons, a Google worksheet will be made available so parents can opt-out children from specific lessons.
School officials said it was up to parents to request the lesson plans when available and determine which specific ones that they preferred to opt out.
In grades 6-8, officials identified 23 sensitive standards that were highlighted. In one standard, it stated, “describe pregnancy testing, the signs of pregnancy, and pregnancy options, including parenting, abortion and adoption.” Lombardy said only a straightforward definition of abortion is provided. He said previously abortion was not mentioned until 12th grade, but was moved up to eighth grade in the 2020 standards.
Other sensitive standards included: Identify factors that are important in deciding whether and when to engage in sexual behaviors; define vaginal, oral and anal sex; identify short and long term contraception and safer sex methods that are effective and describe how to access and use them (e.g. abstinence, condom).
Others included: define sexual consent and sexual agency; define interpersonal and sexual violence and describe their impacts on sexual health; and describe strategies that sex traffickers/exploiters employ to recruit youth.