New guidelines — which were adopted by the state’s Board of Education in 2020 and go into effect this month — specify what schools must teach by the end of students’ second, fifth, eighth, and twelfth grades. State law allows individual districts some flexibility with how they present the material. However, the Department of Education threatened disciplinary action for schools that fail to implement the new standards. A slideshow presented to parents outlining the material that would be taught to students shows second graders will be required to discuss “the range of ways people express their gender,” as well as reproduction, and to “list medically accurate names for body parts, including the genitals (penis, vagina, testes and vulva).” Materials provided to parents earlier in the year show some lessons introducing transgender ideology to children. “You might feel like you’re a boy even if you have body parts that some people might tell you are ‘girl’ parts,” one of the lesson plans states. “You might feel like you’re a girl even if you have body parts that some people might tell you are ‘boy’ parts. And you might not feel like you’re a boy or a girl, but you’re a little bit of both. No matter how you feel, you’re perfectly normal!” By the end of fifth grade, students will be instructed on sexual orientation and gender identity. They will also be required to explain the relationship between sexual intercourse and reproduction, and sexual development, including the topics of “romantic and sexual feelings” and “masturbation.” Eighth graders will be receiving instruction on gender identities, gender expressions, and sexual orientations. They will also be required to participate in classroom education on vaginal, oral, and anal sex. Eighth graders will also discuss “state and federal laws related to age of consent, minors’ ability to consent to health care, confidentiality in a healthcare setting, child pornography, sexting, safe have [sic] and sex trafficking.” People in opposition to the updated guidelines contend that parents should have more control over what their children are learning about sex in a classroom setting. Christine Binder, a mother in Westfield, wrote a letter to state Sen. Holly Schepisi expressing her frustration with the lesson plan changes in New Jersey classrooms. “I am writing to you as a very concerned NJ parent with a child in elementary school. Quite recently, I have heard and learned about the sex ed curriculum that is being rolled out into our schools this September and I am horrified to say the least,” she wrote. “Why are we talking about sexual orientation or gender roles at all with our children? These are personal and private issues … that parents should be discussing with our children.” The state does not create or provide lesson plans or curriculum. And parents may opt their children out of lessons by sending a signed statement to the school stating that the “instruction in health, family life or sex education conflicts with moral or religious beliefs and the student should be excused from that portion of the course.”Starting this fall, New Jersey school districts will be required to teach children about controversial topics in sexual education, including, gender ideology, anal sex, and masturbation.
