Minnesota public school accused of asking senior students to role-play sex scenarios
A Planned Parenthood-sponsored program focusing on the 3R's - rights, respect, and responsibility taught at a Minnesota school has caused a furor among parents who took up the matter with the board. Parents accused a school district of asking teenagers to play transgender and homosexual characters. They've also been accused of telling children as young as 4 to refer to a female as "a person with a vulva" as part of their curriculum. Parents have complained that the curriculum includes sexually explicit content which involves situations where teenagers are "turned on", "hooking up", and "doing awesome things" to each other.
We've reported on incidents where parents have gone up in arms against schools or educators imparting sex-ed. In May this year, Dalton School teacher Justine Fonte was slammed for allegedly showing masturbation videos to 6-year-olds in sex-ed class. A posh New York City school was slammed for exposing students to "kink and BDSM" and encouraged to search terms like "creampie" to students in a "porn literacy" class. A Washington teacher was slammed for handing out flyers to middle schoolers addressing issues of abortion, birth control, and condoms.
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Not okay to tell kindergartners about clitoris
Parents met with Minnesota's Richfield Public School's board members on September 20 with concerns about the sex-ed curriculum by Advocates for Youth. One of the mothers said these lessons were clashing with basic family values. "When is it okay to tell kindergarteners 'clitoris is a very sensitive little area?' Catherine Elkeberry said at the board meeting. When is it appropriate to coach sixth-graders in asking consent for sex and telling them they know best when they are ready for sex?".
The school district which includes seven schools in the Minneapolis school district denied all claims. Jennifer Valley, Director of Communications for the district in a statement said they were not encouraging kindergarteners to participate in exercises with sexually explicit content. She also denied asking senior students to perform scenarios. Valley said they're using only a portion of the curriculum with kindergarteners which doesn't include role-playing exercises. These scenarios might be used for secondary students but not the ones included in the 3R's.
The role-playing scenarios include students being asked to act gay or transgender and figure out for themselves if they'd like to have sex or not with others. A section of the 3Rs is also focused on anal sex and the prevention of STDs. This exercise comes with a warning for teachers that male students might have a problem with it.
"At the K-5 level, our licensed school social workers teach students one to two age-appropriate health and safety lessons per classroom that align with national education standards. Topics may include the anatomically correct names for body parts, a person's right to keep their body safe by expressing their level of comfort with touch, and Identifying a safe adult to confide in if needed. We do not teach elementary students about anal sex, show them graphic images or ask them to role play, as has been reported in the media," said Valley.
Tom Pollis, the chair of the board, said the curriculum includes consent, and topics about sexuality but they've ensured to keep things age-appropriate "for a number of years" and that parents are notified in advance that their kids are allowed to opt-out of some or all of these lessons. "Sex is not about teaching how to have sex," Pollis said. He said "young" children are taught how to make and keep friends along with a mention of basic body parts. "Older" kids learn about consent and peer pressure in these classes, he said.