FCPS updates opt-out process for health curriculum

Apr. 29—As new family life lessons are taught next year to young students — starting with pre-K — parents can have their children excluded, Frederick County school system officials said this week.

The decision comes after a series of fraught meetings in which community members — some carrying signs reading "stop sexualizing our children" and accused officials of emboldening pedophiles — protested the Frederick County Board of Education's approval of the state's health curriculum framework.

The framework, which has yet to be translated into actual lessons, says students should start learning in kindergarten that "it is important to treat people of all gender identities and expressions with dignity and respect" and that "there are different types of families," including some with same-gender parents.

Maryland law allows local school systems to establish procedures for students to opt out of all health lessons that fall under the umbrella of "family life and human sexuality."

Until now, Frederick County Public Schools Curriculum Director Kevin Cuppett said, that option didn't kick in until the end of elementary school, when students begin what he calls "the birds and the bees unit."

Children whose parents don't want them to receive instruction on puberty or human reproductive systems are given alternate lessons, Cuppett said.

But now that topics classified as family life will be introduced beginning in pre-K, FCPS is lowering the opt-out threshold.

"Parents perceive this content to be similar, but now occurring at a lower grade," Cuppett said.

The move means parents will be able to opt out of framework standards that have anything to do with sexual orientation or gender identity.

They'll also be able to opt out of goals like "describe the characteristics of a friend," a pre-K standard, and "identify healthy family and peer relationships," a first-grade standard, because both fall under the family life and human sexuality category.

Other pre-K topics that are being added include "personal boundaries," "bodily autonomy" and how members of a family support each other.

The volunteers who run FCPS' Family Life Advisory Committee planned to walk concerned community members through these options at a meeting on April 6, Cuppett said.

"We were going to discuss opt-out and how opt-out would work," Cuppett said. "That meeting never happened."

Instead, the FLAC presentation descended into chaos when about 100 people began shouting over committee members and school officials, arguing that the curriculum framework was age-inappropriate and infringed on religious freedoms.

The meeting eventually adjourned without progress on any agenda items.

At a meeting of the board's Curriculum and Instruction Committee on Wednesday, Cuppett presented the information that was meant to be discussed at the April6 FLAC meeting.

Wednesday's meeting remained calm, though a few dozen parents still expressed anger about the standards during the public comment period. Many argued that the school system should provide an opt-in system, not an opt-out one.

Under the district's current plan, the opt-out system for younger kids will operate the same way it currently does for older kids.

Parents will receive notification at least 10 days before instruction begins, Cuppett said. They can opt out right away, or they can view the lesson plans and materials before making their decision.

"In my experience, as a former school administrator, we had plenty of parents that just wanted to see what we were going to cover," Cuppett said. "And then when they did, they'd say, 'No, it's OK. My kid can do it.'"

Curriculum materials will also be available for public review once they're developed, Cuppett said. The district will send a systemwide notification when curriculum is ready.

Follow Jillian Atelsek on Twitter: @jillian_atelsek