CECs Set To Dispute Mandated Sex Classes
By Jason Banrey
The debate is over.
Whether principals like it or not, sex education will be taught in all New York City schools in the fall.
Last week, Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott sent an email to principals throughout the City stating sex education lessons will be mandatory in both middle and high school health curriculums.
Believing the school system has an important role in educating children about sex, Walcott said the new Dept. of Education policy was “overdue.”
“We must be committed to ensuring that both middle school and high school students are exposed to this valuable information so they can learn to keep themselves safe before, and when, they decide to have sex,” Walcott stated in the letter.
The mandate is part of the City’s Young Men’s Initiative, a broader effort to improve the lives of young black and Latino youth; it will be incorporated into the health education curriculum. Schools will have the discretion as to which grade to offer the lessons in.
Beginning this September, the new mandate will require pupils to take one semester of sex education, which the DOE recommends should be offered in sixth or seventh grade and again in ninth or 10th grade.
Beginning this September, the new mandate will require pupils to take one semester of sex education, which the DOE recommends should be offered in sixth or seventh grade and again in ninth or 10th grade.
Although specifics about the mandate will not be out until October, Isaac Carmignani, president of CEC 30, which oversees schools from Astoria to Corona, said there are several members on the council who like the concept.
CEC 30 has yet to set its overall opinion in stone about the matter. Despite the several who are in favor of the mandate, Carmignani said an essential component of the mandate should focus on the ethnic and religious diversity within the community.
“There is a multiplicity of belief systems in this [district],” he said. “It would make sense whatever the curriculum is that there is some kind of an opt-out provision for parents who perhaps, after knowing what the curriculum is, still don’t want it for their children,” Carmignani added.
Although the issue has not yet been discussed within CEC 24, board President Nick Comaianni already put forth a resolution opposing Walcott’s plan. CEC 24 oversees schools in Corona, Elmhurst, Glendale, Long Island City and Ridgewood.
The initial draft of the resolution states that children as young as 10 years old “are simply not ready nor have the ability to understand such topics” and the CEC 24 “wishes to have early sexual education discussed in the home as the parent of the child sees fit and not in the classroom.”
CEC 24 will bring a revised version of the original resolution up for discussion and a vote at its monthly meeting on Aug. 23 at PS 58 in Maspeth. The new text includes the phrase CEC 24 “is opposed to mandated sex education instruction for all students.”
There is expected to be heated debate on the subject.
Although the DOE has yet to unveil an official sex education curriculum, it did stipulate its recommendation of utilizing existing curriculums offered in the past – HealthSmart and Reducing the Risk, two programs that are currently offered in schools that previously chose to educate their children about HIV/AIDS and pregnancy prevention, abstinence and contraception.
For more than 20 years, sex education has been tossed around by educators and parents alike. The mandate came as a shock to some and is welcomed as a necessity towards a child’s overall education by others.
Reach Reporter Jason Banrey at jbanrey@queenstribune.com or (718) 357-7400, Ext. 128.