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The board approved new health education policies, with a vote set for December on this year’s sex education curriculum.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Duval County School Board took a step toward resolving an issue that’s persisted for several months.
The board approved new policies when it comes to how the district teaches sex education Tuesday night.
However, the board has yet to approve the finished curriculum for this school year.
Having the policies in place will outline how the district sets curriculum in the future, and it also addresses how age-appropriate props are used in health education in high school.
It’s an important step, however, some parents are getting impatient while waiting to see when their students will actually start learning about this topic in their classrooms.
“My daughters definitely have realized the importance of it,” said Duval County Schools Parent Elissa Bar. “They see what their friends go through. They see what happens at school, and they say ‘Mom, we need more of this, because it’s so important.'”
As a Public Health Professor herself, Barr is more than familiar with ‘the talk.’
She has spent months advocating for comprehensive sexual education in Duval County Schools, after the board decided to create its own curriculum for this school year.
“Most kids are not fortunate enough to have these conversations at home, and therefore we need to have them at schools,” said one parent during public comment.
“Let them do their job for an inclusive and comprehensive sexual health education,” added another.
However, not all parents feel the same.
“We will raise them, and we will educate them at an age we choose in our homes according to our values,” said one parent. “This isn’t your problem.”
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“I know what is age appropriate and what is not age appropriate,” added a community member. “What we are trying to teach children is not age appropriate.”
The district’s new, proposed curriculum would teach abstinence as the expected standard while also providing instruction on safe sex practices beginning those conversations in middle school.
The board decided to hold the vote until December.
“We wanted to allow families to actually peruse that curriculum,” said Superintendent Diana Greene.
The new high school lessons are available online, while middle school parents can request it from their schools or the district office.
You can find that curriculum on the district’s website here: DCPS proposed sex education
With another month to wait, Barr is hoping it will be finished with enough time so students won’t have to go a whole year without sex education.
“The whole thing has to be written and reviewed and we have to plan a training for our teachers to make sure they feel comfortable with it,” said Barr.
Board Chairman Darryl Willie thinks they’ll have plenty of time.
“I’m confident that our school staff, superintendent and her people will get it in there as quickly as possible,” said Willie. “There is a curriculum in place. This is a supplemental curriculum that goes on top of what we have.”
It was a recent state law change that caused all of this to be happening so late in the school year.
Part of the policy piece approved Tuesday will let the district start the approval process much earlier in the future, so we aren’t seeing these decisions made so late.
