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Tariq Zehawi, NorthJersey.com

New Jerseys school districts are getting creative about how they will teach sex education in state-mandated health classes this year as they try not to offend parents while adhering to the states requirements.

Some districts are bending the rules in the process and some are outright breaking them.

There is some wiggle room on how the state standards are taught because the state law leaves it to individual school districts to create their own curriculum, provided they comply with learning standards issued by the state Department of Education.

Related:School districts that don't teach new sex ed standards will be disciplined, state says

The state released a statement on Sept. 9 reminding school leaders that it is mandatory to implement standards and not doing so could result in disciplinary action.

An outcry from conservative groups that began in spring has carried into the fall as school districts begin to implement changes to sex education in the Comprehensive Health and Physical Education portion of the 2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards. The changes require students to be familiar with mature sexual terminology and introduce sex and gender at earlier grades than the previous 2014 standards.

Eighth graders, for example, are now expected to know definitions of vaginal, oral and anal sex, whereas earlier standards limited discussions to broader topics like sexual attraction, contraception and pregnancy. Fifth graders are expected to know the connection between sexual intercourse and human reproduction, whereas earlier standards discussedpuberty.

After a summer of heated and sometimes vicious school board meetings featuring hours-long presentations and question and answer sessions by tired administrators on what they propose to teach in health class, most communities now know what to expect. School boards are required to vote and approve all new curricula before they are taught in class.

Many districts, like Clifton, are following the law and implementing the health standards with detailed presentations to assuage parent concerns and outline what students will learn. Others, like Garwood and Millstone, appear to be ignoring the new health standards by teaching them partially, or leaving portions to be taught at home.

A May presentation at a Clifton school board meeting indicated the district would implement the standards while emphasizing abstinence (also required by law) and age-appropriate content. The presentation is available on the district's website at: https://www.clifton.k12.nj.us/domain/460

The presentation touched upon the most criticized changes in the 2020 health standards, including:

An age-appropriate example for meeting the requirement for second graders to be able to name human genitals would be to define the testicle as a male organ that produces cells. At higher grades, the definition would be expanded to say that the testicle also produces sperm.

The Clifton school district cited the American Academy of Pediatrics in its presentation, saying: in early childhood, parents can teach their children the name of the genitals, just as they teach their child names of other body parts. This teaches that the genitals, while private, are not so private that you cant talk about them."

The district addresses gender stereotyping in second grade, also a new requirement in the 2020 standards that right-wing activists have protested, using a two-minute Thomas The Train video available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWkrQMVqB3s.

The entire lesson on social and sexual health in grades K-2 would last one class period, according to the Clifton presentation. The fifth-grade class on the same topic would also be only one class period. A class on mental and personal health would last one to two class periods. It would limit discussing gender identity and sexual orientation to definitions created by the Mayo Clinic, administrators said. Gender identity is how you feel while sexual orientation is who you love.

Clifton also addresses what is among the most controversial changes in the 2020 health standards for eighth graders by discussing anal, oral and vaginal sex from the lens of sexually transmitted diseases or STDs.

Human sexuality topics always begin with ABSTINENCE. Here in Grade 8 we see minor changes to the standards. For example, we have taught that vaginal and oral sex can lead to contracting sexually transmitted infections and diseases as well as pregnancy. Anal sex has been added as there are misconceptions by young people that this is a safe method of sex. Our focus is on health to prevent STIs, STDs and Pregnancy, according to the districts website.

Some districts plan a safer route that involves parents while also complying with the law. The Hoboken school district said in April that it was considering hosting a family night to teach some of its health classes, by hosting adiscussion on social and sexual health for students in the fifth to seventh grades at an event open to parents and children. The district already uses this approach to discuss the Holocaust, allowing parents to log in remotely while those who choose not to attend are provided with other resources. It conducted one such family health night on May 12, where an expert talked families through topics in health. Superintendent Christine Johnson did not respond to comment for this story.

Garwood school districts K-8 health curriculum, approved on Aug. 16, does not address many of the changes to the 2020 health standards. For example, it mentions fertilization and pregnancy , but does not demonstrate the connection between sexual intercourse and human reproduction which the new standards require for fifth graders. The eighth-grade curriculum omits any mention of vaginal or other types of sex, but discusses gender identity and sexual orientation.

The districts curriculum guide reinforces its position on the states changes to sex education by linking to a resolution passed in May. That resolution says district schools would not adopt curriculum set forth by the 2020 health standards because doing so would allow the school district to demonstrate topics inclusive of sexual activity in classrooms.

Many elements of Millstone Townships Family Life lessons will be left for parents to teach at home, according to curriculum guides on the school districts website. For example, the entire topic of sexual intercourse leading to reproduction, sexual orientation and gender identity are excluded from in-class learning for fifth grade. Strategies used by sex traffickers and laws around consent that are designed to keep children safe from pornography are also excluded from instruction and described as At Home Learning Standard.

Parents can view a comparison between the 2020 and 2014 health standards using a document posted on Clifton's School District site at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YiRJGwyNwnkPQ51jql9-PU-6-Cv6vkMz/view.

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Here's how some NJ schools will teach sex education. Will they avoid state discipline? - NorthJersey.com