LACEY – Parents let their feelings be known regarding the sex education curriculum during the latest meeting of the Township Board of Education.
One parent went so far as to call the entire Board “perverts” during a Board session but Board members and administrators want to explain the plan and are holding a “Listen and Learn” forum on Thursday, August 25 at 5:30 p.m. at the Lacey High School Media Center.
The complete health and physical education curriculum for each grade level is available for review on the school district website https://www.laceyschools.org/Page/11366.
Parents noted their criticism toward the 2020 comprehensive health and physical education standards and strongly called for the Board not to adopt the controversial sex education standards during last month’s Board meeting.
There will be a public comment period that will be recorded in order to present it to the administration and the Board.
The feedback will be used as part of a general review of the curriculum. Parents have the option of having their children opt out of the curriculum and there will be draft copies of the opt-out form at the forum.
Lacey is not the only school district which has seen parents object to the standards. It has been a hot button issue throughout New Jersey in the last several months. It came up during prior Lacey BOE meetings as educators began crafting the new curriculum.
Parents voiced their position that the standards be left out of that curriculum and some went even further suggesting the subject matter should not even be taught in schools.
School Superintendent Vanessa Pereira stated that the administration wanted to provide parents the chance to review the curriculum including the sexual education standards.
Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction William Zylinski was overseeing the creation of the new curriculum being performed by the curriculum committee and which was discussed during the Board’s August 18 meeting.
