Chicago Public Schools planned to teach 'safe anal sex' and other sexually explicit topics to fourth or fifth graders.
On 14 November 2014, the site DNA Infopublished an article showing examples of curriculum presented in binders to parents at a school in Chicago on 12 November 2014. According to it, parents of students at Andrew Jackson Language Academy were shocked when they reviewed sexual education materials for fourth and fifth graders including topics such as 'safe anal sex,' how to use a female condom (both vaginally and anally), and use of the morning after pill.The site explained the binders were supplied for each grade level and parents were invited to review the topics when they visited to school to pick up students' report cards and attend workshops:During report card pickup Wednesday at Andrew Jackson Language Academy, the school hosted several parent workshops, including an afternoon meeting on Chicago Public Schools' newest sex ed curriculum. At one point, parents could view materials intended for students. A binder labeled as the curriculum for students in fifth grade touted the benefits of female condoms for extending sex and increasing pleasure and encouraged using lubrication.Parents were understandably concerned about the materials, which detailed the use of lubricant for sexual acts and explained in-depth how to utilize both male and female condoms. When the issue began to receive media scrutiny, sexual education Powerpoint slides matching some of the materials in question were located on another local school's website. While the slides have since been removed, a cached version exists on Google. It's not clear whether the materials were ever used in any classrooms in that school.Additional materials hosted at one point to Waters Elementary's website and viewable via Google's cache include the topics of sexual violence, condom usage, anal and oral sex, and a 'contraceptive relay' game. However, some of the slides are labeled 'Grade 8,' which is middle or junior high school level and not elementary school level. The inclusion of identical material and incongruent grade levels may indicate a large number of general topics were uploaded to the site in bulk for staff to download as needed, without any specific intent to distribute those particular materials to students.Chicago Public Schools spokesman Bill McCaffrey issued a statement indicating the materials were supplied in error and were never part of the elementary curriculum in the district:The objectionable material presented at Andrew Jackson Language Academy this week is not and never was part of the student sexual education curriculum. It was mistakenly downloaded and included in the parent presentation, and we agree with parents it is not appropriate for elementary school students. As part of our sexual health education policy approved by the Board of Education in 2013, Chicago Public Schools offers a comprehensive sexual education curriculum that is designed to ensure age-appropriate material and minimum instructional minutes for every grade level, consisting of family and sexual health education topics for K-12 students.While it isn't clear how the sexually explicit educational materials came to be included in the binders presented to parents, the topics broached were never a part of the planned curriculum; and more importantly, they were never taught to fourth or fifth grade students at Andrew Jackson Language Academy.
nan