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New Parent Guide in Works After Racy 5th-Grade Sex Ed Plan Shocked Parents

By Stephanie Lulay | March 30, 2015 5:37am
 After racy sex ed slides surfaced in November, CPS officials are working to develop a guide to show parents what their kids will be taught.
After racy sex ed slides surfaced in November, CPS officials are working to develop a guide to show parents what their kids will be taught.
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DNAinfo

NEAR WEST SIDE — Months after racy materials that were part of a new sex ed curriculum outraged parents, Chicago Public Schools officials are developing a guide to let parents know exactly what students will be taught.

The parent resource, called "Curriculum Connection" in CPS documents, will provide a comprehensive look at the materials that will be use in sexual education classes at each grade level. The guide will be distributed to parents beginning this fall, a CPS spokesperson said.

The guide, to be distributed as a handbook, is being developed with help from a parent committee, the spokesperson said.

"CPS recognizes parents and guardians as the primary sexual health educator for their children," according to a statement.

Stephanie Lulay explains the new guide:

The handbook comes after racy sex ed PowerPoint slides surfaced last November, prompting Near West Side parents to call for CPS to halt sex education in all grade schools.

Parents complained that the information was obscene and not age-appropriate.

The materials labeled for fifth-graders at Andrew Jackson Language Academy dealt with anal sex and the use of female condoms, and contained phrases including "Once you pop, you don't have to stop!" and "Got issues? Lube! Lube! Lube!"

But the materials were never meant to be viewed by fifth-graders, former Jackson Principal Mathew Ditto said.

In a letter to parents, Ditto said the materials were "mistakenly downloaded" and displayed in a binder labeled as curriculum for fifth-grade students.

CPS officials said that the slides were meant to be used as teacher reference materials and promised to "scrub" all CPS sex ed materials, removing questionable slides in the process.

Ditto has since left the school for an administrative role in the CPS central office. 

CPS officials said last week that they are implementing new safeguards to ensure all sex ed curriculum and teacher resources are kept separate from supplemental materials not intended for students.

The new CPS sex ed curriculum aligns with the National Sexuality Education Standards and is currently under review by the district's Office of Sexual Health Wellness and a multidepartmental team.

The curriculum will contain "age-appropriate, medically accurate and unbiased material for students," CPS officials said.

To date, 379 schools have a trained instructor as required to implement the new sex ed curriculum. CPS plans to launch the curriculum in all schools by the end of the 2015-2016 school year.

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