A school superintendent has discontinued a middle school sex ed program after irate parents said the program was grossly inappropriate for their children.

On October 14, Jay, Oklahoma parent Mandy Callihan – who is also a teacher – posted on Facebook that she and her husband were “livid” when they discovered their 12-year-old daughter was sitting through a co-ed sex education class that was teaching middle school students about masturbating, oral and anal sex, and “going down on a girl.”

Callihan wrote she and her husband were unaware of the sex ed curriculum:

I’m so sick to my stomach over this, and I’m worried that there are a lot of parents that have no idea that this has been taking place in Jay Middle School this week (7th and 8th Grade).

…

Like I said, Jake and I didn’t know. At least not until Wednesday, when our TWELVE year old daughter called (in tears) asking to be checked out. She had just spent her third day in this class, where boys and girls are combined, and male and female instructors take turns “teaching” our kids about sex education. Obviously sex education has taken a huge turn since I was in school. My daughter handed me a workbook, a workbook that she was supposed to be bringing home each night so that parents can continue the conversation about what was discussed in class. She hadn’t done that….and in her shaky little voice, said “she was too embarrassed.” She begged me not to make her go back to this class. After opening the workbook, I understood why. I was appalled at what … someone in our school system had deemed appropriate to talk to my child about. My TWELVE year old child (who still colors in coloring books). In a room where boys and girls are combined. With male instructors (or female, depending on the time of day, I guess) who are not teachers (or Nurses) in our school system.

Her father and I were (and still are) LIVID.

Callihan writes school officials told her and her husband “pamphlets” were sent home a week earlier informing parents about the sex ed program.

“We never saw a pamphlet…so we didn’t have the opportunity to get her out of the class before it started,” she says. “Signatures for permission were NOT required.”

Callihan says when she did view the pamphlet shown to her by a parent who received it, she realized it “did not do justice to what was fixing to be talked about in the class”:

They most certainly did NOT say, “hey moms and dads we’re gonna be teaching your very young sons and daughters about masturbating by themselves (and mutual masturbation with partners), spend some time talking about oral sex, and anal sex……not to mention, we’re going to tell the boys “that when they are going down on a girl, and it looks like cauliflower, you need to just get up out of there.” YES, that was actually a comment used during class (by a male instructor) … That is NOT sex Ed. That is degrading to the little girls sitting in the class, and it’s teaching the boys sitting in the class that it’s okay to talk that way. Not acceptable, my friends…..absolutely not acceptable for twelve year old ears. Honestly, it’s not acceptable talk EVER.

Callihan continues that her daughter’s teacher, school counselor, school nurse, and principal said the program was “board approved,” and the principal admitted he approved it himself and that “there was nothing wrong with it,” she writes.

Rochester, New York-based radio host Shannon Joy tweeted a photo of a workbook page given to the middle schoolers that refers to “4 Types of Sex: Mutual Masturbation, Oral Sex, Vaginal Sex, Anal Sex”:

“I was a little taken aback and disgusted,” seventh-grade parent Stacy Gough told NewsOn6. “I don’t think types of sex that you can have is actually appropriate in a sex education class.”

Gough said her son told her, “Mom, it’s like instead of them telling us how to not do it, it’s like they gave us a road map.”

Another Jay resident Sharon Squire said, “That is not something appropriate for children to see. I am not opposed to them having sex education, but things like this that I just saw, I’m very much opposed to.”

According to NewsOn6, Jay school Superintendent Kenneth Bridges said in response:

Facts: …

  • The “curriculum” you have referred to was developed by the Connection Institute, a division of LifeChoices Health Network.
  • It is being (and has been) used by at least five other school districts in our area including Grove Public Schools for five years.
  • It was presented in our school by the Lighthouse Pregnancy Center (Jay, OK) starting last year.
  • The Jay Board Of Education approved this program last year (September 13, 2016) on a 5-0 vote as well as its presentation by Lighthouse Pregnancy Institute.
  • I was not here last year; this is my first year back in OK (home) after being out of state for several years.
  • I had no knowledge of this program until Thursday, October 12, 2017 and had my middle school principal discontinue the program on Friday, October 13, 2017.

Callihan told The Blaze, however, Bridges informed her and her husband that while the program is pulled for this school year, it “must be taught in the coming years, as per state requirements.”

She added she and her husband were also told that “separating genders will no longer take place due to transgender laws.”

Breitbart News did not receive a response from the Jay School District to a request for comment. Lighthouse Pregnancy Center in Jay, Oklahoma did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the curriculum.

UPDATE:

Karen Moore, director of the Lighthouse Pregnancy Center in Jay, Oklahoma – which facilitates the sex education curriculum in the Jay Middle School – responded to Breitbart News hours after publication of this article.

Moore said in a phone conversation that Lighthouse is a Christian, pro-life pregnancy center, and the sex education program is “abstinence-based and value-based.” She denied that the curriculum used in Jay Middle School is “comprehensive sex education” similar to what Planned Parenthood teaches in public schools.

Moore told Breitbart News the controversy over Lighthouse’s sex ed program has been taken out of context and that the curriculum has been “misrepresented.”

“They took a snippet out of one page of this workbook and ran with it,” she said, referring to the worksheet mentioned in the article that highlights “4 Types of Sex: Mutual Masturbation, Oral Sex, Vaginal Sex, Anal Sex.”

“We are teaching these kids how to say ‘no,’ boundaries, goal-setting, what a relationship ladder looks like,” Moore continued. “And, believe me, sex is the last thing they should be participating in on the list.”

Moore says her program gives information on sexually transmitted diseases and statistics about no fathers being in the home as well.

“Unfortunately, for kids, their biggest worry is they do not want to get pregnant, so they engage in other risky behavior, so they think they’re safe,” she explains, “which is why on that page, we say this is what sex truly is.”

Asked by Breitbart News about the comment from an instructor reported about “going down on a girl,” Moore admitted, “That is not the language we use. That is not appropriate language.”

Moore said Lighthouse actually facilitates the sex ed program and claims much of what has been reported has been “misstated” and “blown out of proportion.” She said she gets positive comments about the program from parents.

“The parents aren’t aware of some of the stuff that’s going on,” she added, mentioning the high rates of STDs nationally. “These kids know way more than their parents think they know, believe me.”

“We want kids to be innocent, but we do not want them to be naïve,” she said.