While some New Jersey parents, school boards, and politicians have loudly denounced the new Health and Physical Education Standards issued by the Murphy Administration’s Department of Education, almost everyone seems to have settled down.
Except for Middletown, which in August announced it s schools would only teach about gender identity and sexual behavior to students whose parents proactively “opted-in” to the lessons by filling out a form, as more than a dozen news outlets reported.
Far more quietly, Lakewood Public Schools did the same thing, It is unclear if they gathered community input on the standards before passing a new policy.
According to the August 24th agenda,
“All students in grades K-12 will participate in the district’s Health & Physical Education program; however, parents/guardians must “Opt-in” if they would like their child to participate in the Social and Sexual Health and Pregnancy and Parenting components of the program.
Should a parent/guardian not complete the Opt-in form, their child will participate in all components of the Health & Physical Education Program, with the exception of the Social and Sexual Health and Pregnancy and Parenting components.
Parents/Guardians will be provided with an Opt-in form that must be completed and returned to their child’s school.”
Consequences for districts that are non-compliant with the learning standards are unclear. Back in July a DOE spokeswoman annouced,
‘Districts that do not teach the standards will be penalized for instruction and program in the appropriate curricular area,’ though the nature of the penalty might vary. ‘We couldn’t speculate because it would be a fact-specific issue and the severity of the ramifications could vary, as would be the case for other statutory/regulatory violations,’ she said, when asked what those penalties could look like.
State Board of Education member Andrew Mulvihill asked within the DOE what that those penalties were and was told not incorporating the standards could “trigger involvement from the State Board of Examiners and the School Ethics Commission.”
Also, Acting Education Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMilan issued a “clarification” on school district flexibility re: the standards: “Any child whose parent or guardian presents to the school a signed statement that any part of instruction in health, family life education, or sex education is in conflict with his or her conscience or sincerely held moral or religious beliefs shall be excused from that portion of the course. Parents and guardians seeking to exercise this option should contact their local school principal directly.”
That’s not what Middletown and Lakewood are doing. Nobody knows what will happen but Middletown and Lakewood are willing to find out.
You can compare NJ’s sexual health standards with other states by going here.
