The Palm Beach County School District has quietly scrapped its annual sex education course, citing difficulty getting it approved by the state. The district is following a trend in Florida of focusing on abstinence over contraception in sex education. Previously, the curriculum covered topics like consent, pregnancy, disease prevention, and online safety, but now students are only guaranteed to learn about sex as part of the regular science curriculum in certain grades.
The state has become more restrictive on what topics can be taught related to sexuality, prohibiting instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity, and requiring approval of each district’s sex education curriculum. Other districts in the state are also doing less or no sex education. The Palm Beach County district attempted to submit a curriculum for approval, but it was never accepted or rejected by the state.
The district initially claimed it was following state guidelines and had an approved curriculum, but it was later revealed that no specific sex education curriculum was in place for the current school year. Instead, materials are being taken from science and health textbooks. This decision has disappointed some teachers who believe sex education is important for teaching life skills and preventing issues like pregnancy and abuse.
The lack of a specific sex education curriculum has raised concerns about what students are being taught and how they are being prepared for important life topics. The district’s move to rely on textbooks for sex education has left some details unclear, and teachers like Michael Woods are expressing disappointment over the changes. The state Department of Education has not provided comment on the situation, leaving many questions unanswered.
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