Sex education debate: Parents’ Bill of Rights gains Ocean County support
TOMS RIVER - The Ocean County Board of Commissioners plan this week to wade into the contentious debate over New Jersey’s new health and sex education curriculum.
While the five-member, all-Republican board has no legal authority to determine what is taught in schools, its bully pulpit is seen as influential in a county that is a bastion of conservatism in an otherwise progressive state.
Commissioner Virginia E. Haines, who is also a Republican National Committee member, circulated a draft resolution among her colleagues last Wednesday to establish a “Parents’ Bill of Rights.”
If approved as expected, the resolution would put the full weight of the county government behind a grassroots effort to establish such a bill of rights — by providing political, administrative and legal support. The text of the draft resolution authorizes and directs the county commission director, the county administrator and county general counsel to organize parents, community leaders and unspecified professionals to develop the framework for such a document.
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The framework for such a declaration would then be used to marshal local school districts and county schools into adopting their own bills of rights “that will, among other things, protect our children, notify parents of the curricula being taught to their children in our schools and allow them to make their own decisions regarding their child’s education and exposure to sensitive information,” according to a copy of the draft resolution.
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Haines said it’s an issue she is frequently approached about as a county political leader and indeed the resolution notes that all of the commissioners have been “contacted by Ocean County residents related to this sensitive issue.”
Over the past month, both the Monmouth County Board of Commissioners and the Toms River Township Council have expressed support for such a bill of rights in their respective jurisdictions.
“I think it is up to a parent to make that decision of what they want their child to learn (and) at what age they want them to learn,” Haines said in a public conversation with her colleagues during an agenda session of the commission on Wednesday.
“We were at Lacey last night and the school board members over there were really upset over the (curriculum),” said Commissioner Gary Quinn, a former Lacey school board member himself.
“Every one of us hears it all over the county,” interjected commission Director Jack Kelly.
“I received phone calls regarding this too,” said Commissioner Barbara “Bobbi” Jo Crea.
“Yeah, we all do, yes,” Kelly replied.
“Parents want to be involved with their children as the primary person to make those decisions,” said Commissioner Joseph H. Vicari, a retired teacher and Berkeley superintendent of schools. “Parents have a right to make those decisions.”
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“I don’t have children, but I don’t agree with the age that they were talking about for children to be taught certain things or talk about certain things, they’re trying to just be children,” Haines said. “And then to have this thrown into their lap … I don’t see where it’s a benefit to these young people.”
The curriculum
In 2020, the state Board of Education approved the new curriculum, titled: “New Jersey Student Learning Standards — Comprehensive Health and Physical Education,” which is to go into effect this fall.
A broad range of issues and topics are to be taught, which include personal hygiene, mental and social well-being, community health and support, fitness, nutrition, safety, substance abuse and sexuality.
The controversy is over the sexual health component of the curriculum. For example, by the second grade, students are to be taught that “all living things may have the capacity to reproduce,” that people may choose to dress differently, and that gender-role stereotypes may “limit behavior.” They are also taught there are “different types of families.”
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By the fifth grade, students are to be taught the first signs of puberty, how sexual intercourse relates to reproduction, and “common human sexual development and the role of hormones, romantic and sexual feelings, masturbation, mood swings and the timing of pubertal onset,” according to the state curriculum. Students are also to be instructed that all “individuals should feel welcome and included regardless of their gender, gender expression or sexual orientation.”
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The issue has rallied many parents amid a broader national debate over the extent to which sex and racism (and even certain literature with sexual and racial themes) should be taught in classrooms, and whether parents have the right to shield their children — on philosophical or religious grounds — from such topics in a classroom.
Contact Asbury Park Press reporter Erik Larsen at elarsen@gannettnj.com
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ sex ed curriculum: Ocean County to support Parents’ Bill of Rights
