Dear, BOE, Legislature, Mayor...

Delay implementation of the 2020 NJ Student Learning Standards

Lets start with some background. April 14, 2022, the New Jersey Department of Education, Acting Commissioner, Dr. Angelica Allen-McMillian, sent a memo to educational professionals regarding the 2020 NJSL Standards. In that memo, she states

“The NJDOE does not review, approve, or actively endorse instructional materials such as sample lesson plans, textbooks, software, or videos in any content area.”

If this is true, why are resources specifically listed on the NJDOE website? If they’re listed, they’re approved. They didn’t just magically appear like the links in my op-ed.

Last week, school districts, Board of Education members, legislators, the Governor and The New Jersey Department of Education came under fire. The 2020 NJSL Standards, to be implemented this coming school year, are being criticized for the language, the content and the implementation. I’ve read through the Comprehensive Health and Physical Education standards from two different lenses. One as a parent and one as an educator. I have the same reaction; inappropriate. It’s too big of a responsibility to place on a child. Their mental capacity is not equipped for such a responsibility. The onus falls upon the parent, not the institution of education. Some of the language is too explicit. Perhaps, I am that of a prude.

What are those letters and numbers in the standards? For example, 2.1.5.PGD.4; Standard 2.1 is the standard that represents Comprehensive Health and Physical Education. 5 is up to the grade level (so this would be Grades 3-5) PGD, Personal Growth and Development is the strand of the overall CHPE content area.

2.1.5.PGD.4: Explain common human sexual development and the role of hormones (e.g., romantic and sexual feelings, masturbation, mood swings, timing of pubertal onset). Students are “mandated” to learn this standard from 3rd grade until 5th grade. Again, call me a prude. Why is this even a standard? As a 46 year old parent of an 8 year old, 3rd grader, this makes me extremely uncomfortable. The physical education/health teacher can teach my daughter about sexual feelings? Masturbation? Mood swings? What? Why? I teach high school students. NEVER would I EVER dream of having a conversation with students about that particular standard nor would I ever want to. Bottom line, it’s wildly inappropriate. Any person, educator that thinks this standard isn’t inappropriate, I question their mental well-being. If anyone spoke to me about the contents in the above standard, it would be deemed sexual harassment. No. Really. Think about this for a moment. In other walks of life, professions, a conversation about romantic and sexual feelings, masturbation would be deemed inappropriate. Just because this is in an educational setting, doesn’t make it permissible. Right?

2.1.5.PGD.1: Explain the relationship between sexual intercourse and human reproduction. Remember this can be taught from grades 3-5. Again, why? These children do not have the mental capacity to handle this content. Nor should they have to.

2.1.5.PGD.2: Explain the range of ways pregnancy can occur (e.g., IVF, surrogacy) Hey Mom, we learned about pregnancy today. So how did you conceive me? Sexual intercourse? IVF? Artificial insemination? Did you use a surrogate? Was I adopted? Do we think this is inappropriate? Or am I truly a prude?

2.1.8.SSH.9: Define vaginal, oral, and anal sex. Grades 6-8 should be able to define these terms? Again, why? How will children define them? In a vocabulary test? Perhaps they’ll have to draw pictures? Maybe they’ll have to watch a video from Amaze? Do we really need to go there? The answer, again, is no.

Why can’t the standard simply be: do not let anyone ever touch you inappropriately. Do not let anyone make you feel uncomfortable. If anyone tells you not to tell your parents, that’s a red flag to tell your parents. I always go back to the Women’s Gymnastic Team. That monster sexually assaulted young girls in his office, sometime right in front of their parents. Why not educate our children in the simplest of terms? No means no. Period. End of story.

These standards are coming from a different place. These standards aren’t coming from a place of, we need to educate our children to protect them. It’s coming from a place of overreach. It’s coming from a place of, parents, step aside, we’ve got this covered. “We” have relied heavily on schools. Schools have provided so much more than just a simple Reading, Writing and Arithmetic education. Schools feed and clothe children. They provide services outside of the educational realm. Look at the pandemic, “open schools, we need to go to work!” “Close the schools!” “We need a Chromebook to log into Google Meets.” In some ways, schools have stepped in to take on bigger roles.

Up until the 2020 standards, the sexual education curriculum, standards was supposed to stress ‘abstinence.’ As I read through the June 3, 2020, State BOE comment/response form, pg. 71, 28.

Comment: The commenters recommended the removal of language related to stressing abstinence. (3, 15, 58, 108, 122)

Response: N.J.S.A. 18A:35-4.20 requires sex education programs to stress abstinence. Therefore, this matter is outside the scope of the NJSLS review.

We’ve heard the narrative that “kids are watching much worse on social media; Tik Tok, Reddit, Instagram, Netflix.” That statement may be accurate for some children. However, what my child is watching falls under my watch, not the school’s. Just because a child may have seen “more” doesn’t give the NJDOE the right to allow schools, educators to teach my child what they feel I’m not teaching them. It doesn’t give a green light to revise, rewrite the NJLS Standards towards a political agenda that some of us deem to be inappropriate and unnecessary. It’s not the responsibility of the NJDOE to implement such mandated standards that aren’t age inappropriate, content appropriate. School districts, administrators, educators should not be given the green light to implement such inappropriate content standards into daily lesson plans. The following lesson plans are a resource found through several clicks on the NJDOE’s website. The Advocates for Youth dropbox link to 3Rs Curriculum is available in one easy click.

It’s time to send emails to local board of education members, your local legislators, the Governor, the State Board of Education office, and the Department of Education to delay the implementation of the 2020 NJSL Standards. These standards need to be revised, rewritten, some even omitted. I’ve included a sample letter.

Find your legislature e-mail here.

Dear _______________ (Board of Education Member, Assembly person, Senator, Mayor , Council person etc.)

As a _____________ (parent, taxpayer, concerned adult) in _______________ School District, I urge you to advocate on my behalf to delay the implementation of the 2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards for Comprehensive Health and Physical Education. I am specifically concerned about the sex education standards. The information I have seen regarding these standards is disturbing. I do not believe these standards are age-appropriate. NJDOE should be forced to explain the 2020 standards in detail and take public comments that will inform any future standards implementation. NJ Public Education is supposed to reflect our collective values as a community. They should be nonpartisan as well as developmentally, and academically appropriate. These standards do not meet those expectations. We are all aware that students talk to each other often sharing exaggerated or inaccurate information and I am concerned that when these inappropriate standards are addressed in classrooms the conflict with conscience statute will not protect students from this very sensitive content that is not, in my opinion, developmentally appropriate. There should be no rush to move these standards into use. The 2014 standards have served us well until now and will do so until reasonable new standards are developed and adopted with proper stakeholder participation.

Thank you,