A spokesperson said, “ Before this legislation passed, Los Angeles Unified already had a program in place that met these new requirements.
More than half a dozen school districts were contacted for this story, and none of them agreed to speak. There’s nothing in there that is not age appropriate.”Īs for administrators, most declined to comment or did not respond to requests. I had the opportunity as a parent to review the material if I went into the school and asked for it, which I believe all parents have that right now. “I did not feel that it was not age appropriate. She has two adult daughters who went through public school sex education. Credit: Positive Prevention Plus, courtesy of Michelle New.īut politicians like Leyva disagree with the parents who protest outside her office. Recommended resources for sex education curriculum include this Powerpoint slide demonstrating vaginal, anal and oral sex. She says she discovered that he had been learning about gender identity and expression for a month without her notice. He had drawn several scenes that promoted tolerance of the LGBTQ+ community. Linda Liu was angry after she discovered one of her son’s assignments. Children learn about gender identity, sexual orientation, and sexuality across different schools subjects.
Teachers are encouraged to use more LGBTQ-inclusive language.
She goes on to read detailed, explicit explanations of how to engage in types of manual stimulation and oral sex.īut that’s only one of the pieces that parents are upset about. It says … ‘body fluid blood play.’ Not only that, it says, ‘what is it, and how do you do it?’ ” “It’s like, do you laugh or cry? This is how bad it is. She pulls out one of the books that was originally recommended to teachers, and reads a bookmarked page. Stephanie Yates’ son is a freshman in high school this year, but she put him in private school to avoid the curriculum. Stephanie Yates (left) and Michelle New (right) have both pulled their children out of public school and regularly protest the state’s sex education curriculum. So this is the first school year since those recommendations came out. But unless they formally make that request in writing, students are automatically enrolled.Ĭoncern over the curriculum found new life after California approved resources and textbooks in May 2019. It requires that students receive comprehensive sex education at least once in middle school, and once in high school. The new curriculum was passed in 2016 under the Child Healthy Youth Act. “You don’t see anything that doesn’t have an agenda. But it didn’t go over and beyond sexual beliefs, and this curriculum does,” she says. “Sex education taught safety, it taught reproductive, it taught puberty, it did teach condoms and birth control and things like that. She says it’s not the same lessons she learned when she was in school. She pulled her 12-year-old daughter out of public school after learning about the curriculum there. Many of those parents share an active disdain for California’s sex education.
She leads the Senate Education Committee, which makes decisions about sex ed in public schools. That’s brought a dozen parents outside State Senator Connie Leyva’s office one recent afternoon. Sex education isn’t just about putting condoms on bananas anymore.Ĭalifornia school districts are teaching more detailed descriptions of body parts, sexual acts and sexual diversity.