Oklahoma’s Tulsa Public School district decided to halt biology classes for three weeks while it teaches students a 12-module sexual education curriculum.
All high school students enrolled in biology classes, as well as seventh grade students, “will not be getting biology instruction” according to school board member E’Lena Ashley, but rather get “sexual indoctrination.”
Many parents in the school district are neither knowledgeable of the curriculum, nor are they aware of how to opt out, according to Ashley.
“We want parents to be notified that they have the opportunity to opt out of this sexual indoctrination,” she said in a video on Facebook.
Positive Prevention PLUS is the curriculum in question, which, according to the opt-out form, purports to be an “evidence-based program” that “provides students with the knowledge, confidence, and skills necessary to reduce their risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and unplanned pregnancy.”
The curriculum also covers gender identity and expression, as well as sexual orientation.
Indeed, in the preface to the high school curriculum, Positive Prevention PLUS instructs that “some transgender students may be taking medications (puberty blockers or hormone therapy) to more closely align the physical characteristics of their body with their gender.”
The preface does also say that “it is not the purpose of this curriculum to supplant parental instruction.”
Ashley believes that the starting point for a curriculum like this should be parents opting in, rather than having to choose to opt out. She also said parents should be provided class materials and be able to audit them for content.
“As I speak to more parents, they’re not getting this information. They’re not getting information from TPS on how to get the forms, how to get the curriculum, what the lesson plans are,” she said.
According to a district spokesperson, parents were notified using three different methods, “schools distribute information electronically, teachers send home information with students, and schools host preview nights.”
Breccan F. Thies is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @BreccanFThies.