By Madhu Mayer
It remains to be seen if school districts in Will County will opt out of a new law the Illinois State Board of Education is required to adopt by the National Sex Education Standards.
The new law updating sex education for kindergarten to 12th grade that Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law last summer takes effect in the 2022-23 school year. The new rules do not require all schools to adopt the comprehensive sex education curriculum as districts and parents can opt out of the national standards. Furthermore, Illinois law does not require school districts to teach sex education, just health education that encompasses sexual health.
Shawn Walsh, regional superintendent of schools in Will County, said schools are not required to join the state if they already offer sex education curriculum for their students. Additionally, he said, Illinois recently distributed surveys to school districts to see which ones opted for the new curriculum. Results of those surveys are not out yet.
The standards outlined in the law states that children in elementary schools will learn about sexual consent, boundaries and what constitutes a healthy relationship, according to the state board of education. Those in middle school will be taught about dating violence prevention and sexual harassment. Those in high school will explore sexual health topics and pregnancies.
Some parents like Karen Mendoza of Plainfield said she will not allow her 14-year-old daughter to be taught about sex in the classroom, regardless of the direction her school district takes.
“I do not want my daughter to learn about things I feel my husband and I should be teaching them at home,” said Mendoza. “I know they learn sexual education in high school, but I do not wat it to go further than that. It makes me very uncomfortable.”
On the other hand, Karen Siemen of Joliet said she is all about age-appropriate education.
“From what I understand, schools are not going to be teaching my children the actual sex act,” she said. “They need to learn about bullying and I want my daughter to understand it is OK to say ‘no.’ Little things that schools can reinforce what I teach my kids at home makes it all better.”
But Matt Alderton of Bolingbrook said children should be focusing on reading, writing and mathematics while in school, not sexual identity politics.
“It is up to parents like myself to have those tough conversations with my children,” he said. “It is not up to school districts to indoctrinate them on these liberal beliefs. I want to teach my kids what is right and wrong. All schools should be focused on is improving their grades, so they have a better future in life.”
Kathleen Willis, state legislator, one of the lawmakers who wrote the bill commented in an interview, that the curriculum is not indoctrinating the state’s youth and some kids don’t have parents to teach them about important topics.
Madhu Mayer – mmayer@thetimesweekly.com
