BARNEGAT – As school children returned to classes, one part of their planned lessons remained up in the air. Controversial additions to the curriculum required by state mandate won’t be taught – just yet.
In a surprise move, the Barnegat Township Board of Education voted to separate sections of the curriculum submitted by district administrators for approval.
“I’d like to remove the K-8 and the 9-12 Health and PE standards,” said Michael Hickey, board member. “This way, we can move back in for further consideration and clarification on questions that are still out there. We can then basically move through all other items for the curriculum.”
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian Latwis confirmed it would not be a problem for the district to hold off on introducing the contentious curriculum in September.
Hickey’s motion came after board member Sandra Churney pointed out different materials in the proposed curriculum that she found questionable and vague. She said board members were provided with thousands of pages related to the curriculum for review.
Parents were afforded the opportunity to opt-in or out of portions of the curriculum that fall under the state’s new Health and Physical Education standards. School Board President Sean O’Brien provided insight concerning responses already received.
As of our meeting, roughly 2,700 students out of an approximate 3,200 K-12 students were opted into the Health curriculum,” shared O’Brien. Even after two parent information nights and several committee meetings it was clear to me that members still were not confident with the information they had and therefore it made sense to send it back to the Education Committee for further review and next steps.”
Churney said she felt the informational sessions were more about collecting data regarding what parents wanted in the curriculum. She felt families still did not understand how the new standards would be addressed in Barnegat.
Churney gave some examples of things that disturbed her. For instance, she said one part of the curriculum addressed healthy versus unhealthy relationships among friends and family members. Churney wanted to know why the question didn’t extend to students and staff as individuals who might potentially hurt children.
“I know Brian (Latwis) has told us a few times that teachers will be held accountable if they go rogue or they stray,” Churney said. “I’m sorry, in this country, we’ve had too many teachers that have slept with students, and they definitely did not go to jail. This to me is grooming.”
Churney said she found the conversation uncomfortable as she sensed someone from the teacher’s union might think she was going after teachers. She did not think teachers had the credentials to discuss hormones or non-consensual sexual encounters.
“The discussion of gender and gender identity,” continued Churney. “If a child who identifies as an animal, what does that mean when we we’re going over body parts and discuss hands. Is that particular child going to be saying, I don’t really have hands, I have paws.”
Some of the items Churney found concerning were unrelated to the Health and PE standards that will be integrated into the regular curriculum.
“Describe the issues of bias and accessibility in the design of existing technologies,” read Churney from a curriculum document. “What bias? What accessibilities?”
Board President Sean O’Brien ventured a guess at the answer, later confirmed by Jim Barbiere, Director of Curriculum & Instruction. The state has required that school districts include lesson plans that acknowledge people’s disabilities. Someone with sensory disorders might need an audio presentation because they can’t read websites. In short, technology doesn’t equally benefit everybody.
Churney pressed the issue and wanted to know if the question was that some people had accessibility to computers, while others did not. She again called the curriculum vague, and said everyone had access to technology in the district.
“You know we aren’t the only people who exist, right,” board member Regina Tarnowski shot out. “Other people in other areas don’t have accessibility.”
Latwis reminded the board members that when teachers develop lesson plans, they use their professional judgment and expertise in covering topics. He said the curriculum documents are not intended to be read as a script – and that teachers were not robots.
When Churney claimed that some districts have chosen to ignore the standards completely and use their 2017-2018 curriculum, Latwis said he did not think it was possible to speak on behalf of the 607 districts in the state.
“There have been some districts such as Jackson and Toms River where they allocated certain pieces of the curriculum to be taught at home,” shared Latwis. “…There really hasn’t been a formal response yet whether or not that would qualify for QSAC (Quality Single Accountability Continuum).”
Board member Richard Quelch also voiced dissatisfaction with changes, although he was not as specific. Both Churney and Quelch abstained on the vote to approve the curriculum even after separation of the Health and Physical Education standards portion was removed.
“I was prepared to take it on the chin and say no and I’m still not really sure,” Quelch said. “I’m going to abstain because I’m really not sure if any of this has trickled into the curriculum at all.”
The Barnegat Township school board sponsored two separate informational sessions on New Jersey’s Comprehensive Health and Physical Education curriculum changes. The focus was on informing families of the state’s expectations and seeking input from community members.
Both meetings turned out essentially the same way. Less than fifty people showed up for the June presentation, with many saying they didn’t want the schools to cover materials regarding gender identification or sexual education.
A month later, even less people showed up to express their opinions. Sources say a masked group of individuals who wore shirts identifying themselves as the Proud Boys came to the July informational session. Other people who intended to participate in the meeting allegedly appeared uncomfortable and left to avoid any fights.
The school board’s education committee will take charge of what happens next as far as consideration of the revised curriculum. This could include a third information seminar now that the curriculum has been developed.
The vote on the Health and Physical Education portion of the curriculum may come again on the agenda at either the end of this month or October.
