A Wallaceburg grandmother is concerned about the new sex-ed curriculum being handed down by the Province of Ontario.
Anne Stewart expressed those concerns during a presentation to the Lambton-Kent District School Board last week, along with her grandson, who has three children in elementary school.
She said her grandson went to a parent teacher meeting in November and wrote a letter to the school principal.
“He said ‘I hear this is coming’ but he couldn’t get any information. He said ‘if there is anything going on, I want to know ahead of time’. They get a monthly newsletter and they get a calendar and anything out of the ordinary, parents are made aware of.”
Stewart said about a month later the kids – ages 7, 9 and 11 – came home saying they had an assembly that day.
“They were a little bit upset because they didn’t know what was going on,” Stewart said. “It was a play from some students from John McGregor. It was suppose to be on anti-bullying and it did include a couple of young men leading on that they were gay, but the kids were too young and they didn’t know what was going on.”
Stewart said her grandson was upset that he was not made aware of the play and its context.
Stewart added her grandson intended on pulling his children out of school if certain things are going to be taught with the new curriculum in the future.
She said the public consultation conducted was inadequate.
“There was suppose to be a survey of 4,000 people,” she said. “Sounds like a lot. One per school. That’s less and 1 per cent of parents.”
Jim Costello, director of education with the LKDSB, told the Sydenham Current earlier this month that the curriculum is scheduled to be delivered in September.
“We have talked sex education for years in schools and the curriculum in Ontario has not been updated since 1998. When a curriculum has been approved and has been co-assigned by many, many experts from many organizations and associations across the province, I would encourage parents to get informed and go to the Ministry of Educations website,” he said.
“There is a ‘Myths vs. Fact’ sheet there that is quite strong as well as some other information about the curriculum. I would encourage parents to take a look. I think the #1 solution when we work in education is to educate people and encourage people to get informed before they make up their mind about whether its appropriate or not.”
There were several kids across the Lambton-Kent District School Board pulled from school earlier this month by their parents in protest of Ontario’s new sexual education curriculum.
Costello said if people have questions, they can either direct them to the Ministry or the principals of the schools as well.
More details about the curriculum can be viewed here.
Stewart said she intends to look further into the issue and explore her families options.
