Cranford Schools Clear Up Misinformation On Sex Education Curriculum

CRANFORD, NJ — As the state's Department of Education recently revised its sex education curriculum standards, a great deal of controversy has erupted from parents across the state, including in Cranford.

Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Brian Heineman sent a message to the Cranford school community on Thursday to clear up "misinformation" regarding the new sex education curriculum, as well as explain how the school district will implement this curriculum.

"The District is aware that there has been a great degree of conversation about the Comprehensive Health and Physical Education standards for the state of New Jersey," Heineman wrote. "We are also aware that there has been an unfortunate amount of misinformation in the media and on social media regarding this topic."

Related: Murphy Orders Review Of Controversial Sex Education Standards

Heineman explained that the Comprehensive Health and Physical Education standards that have been released by the state are guidelines for the district, but there are no specific lessons that the district is required to teach to meet these standards.

These standards set by the state are broken down by grade level, based on skills and knowledge that should be acquired by the end of the grade listed for grades 2,5,8 and 12, Heineman explained. Because of this, district have guidelines about how to instruct these particular standards, as well as which grades they should be teaching them to.

"Obviously, more complex and mature topics would be taught at or near the final grade listed in the grade band," Heineman wrote.

The standards were adopted by New Jersey in June of 2020 and have been incorporated into the district's curriculum since that time, Heineman said.

"Our teachers and administrators took a commonsense approach to create a curriculum that meets the standards but also is appropriate in content and delivered at an appropriate grade level for our students," he wrote.

All of Cranford’s curricular resources can be found online here.

New Jersey has also always allowed parents/guardians to opt out their child from any portion of the health curriculum if they feel it is in conflict with their religious or moral beliefs. In this case, Heineman said a student would be assigned alternate lessons to complete if their parents decide to opt them out of the health class.

Parents from certain districts, such as Westfield, have spoke out against the updated guidelines. Many argue that children are too young to be learning about topics concerning gender identity, for instance, especially at the elementary level. Some also believe that parents should be the ones to teach their children these lessons, not the schools.

Read more: New Sex Education Curriculum Sparks Debate Among Westfield Parents

Heineman reminded parents to be aware of misinformation being spread and to contact him, me Heineman@cranfordschools.org, or Health/P.E. Supervisor Darren Torsone, Torsone@cranfordschools.org with any questions about the curriculum.

"I sincerely hope that after reviewing the state and district materials you will agree that our district staff have done an excellent job of interpreting the standards and creating a health program that is both informative and inclusive," Heineman wrote.

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