Lake County Gazette

The parents of Barrington 220 School District implore their school board to reject standards set by a new, controversial sexual education bill signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker. These parents have started a change.org petition directed at the school board. 

"We are D220 families, community members, taxpayers and concerned citizens who care deeply about the school district," the parents wrote. "D220 has had a reputation as a 'destination' district where parents sacrifice to send children to school attracting people from all over the world. We expect D220 to be a local leader in education setting the example of excellence in academics, integrity, and ethics in partnering with parents/guardians on the education of their children." 

The petition cited two issues that need to be resolved. One is for D220 to commit to filtering obscene or pornographic content across media and resources.

"Obscene and pornographic content has been made available to D220 students," the petition reads. "Emails, public comments and requested reviews have not been addressed adequately and the idea of parents having to filter for this or routinely 'opt out' of adult content is NOT ACCEPTABLE. Students coming across these materials online through school resources is also not acceptable (ebook, catalogs or otherwise). While many D220 policies exist to address obscene or pornographic content (5.90, 6.235, 6.25, 7.310, 7.315, 8.25, 8.30 - Link to D220 policies) the school library policy needs to be updated aligning." 

The books in question that the parents cited are Lawn Boy, Gender Queer, This Book is Gay, Fighting Words, and All Boys Aren’t Blue. The board also requested to not adopt IL SB818 Comprehensive Sexual Education.

"Dr. Hunt indicated D220 Board will be voting whether to use or opt out of the new 'health and safety' standards from SB818 once additional information is received from ISBE (this is expected by August 1, 2022). However, we already know that these standards will align with the National Sex Education Standards of which many standards range from concerning to shocking including: By 2nd grade: identifying gender identities beyond biology; By 5th grade: describing the role of hormone blockers on young people who identify as transgender; By 5th grade: distinguish between sex assigned at birth and gender identities; By 5th grade: define and explain many gender types beyond biological; By 5th grade: differentiate between sexual orientation and gender identity; By 5th grade: identify trusted adults whom students can ask about sexual orientation questions; By 8th grade: recall the definition of sexual orientation and that most people have a sexual orientation; By 8th grade: describe pregnancy options parenting, abortion and adoption."

The petition requests several actions, including the creation of an independent task force with parent representation "to uncover the ROOT CAUSE(s) of adult content materials being made available to students and 6th-grade summer reading list including Gender Queer, which contains many instances of explicit sexual content," and "Design & perform training district-wide on the new & existing policies and importance of using 'age appropriate' content & materials including all types of media. This training to include how to handle student inquiries about adult content/conversations referring student to parent/guardian." 

The petitioners also included the following items to their list of concerns:

1) We implore you to vote to retain local control over the health & sex ed. curriculum used D220.

2) Commit that teachers or staff in D220 will not have sexual orientation or gender identity conversations with any student without advance parental consent in writing. The situations where that would become necessary in the school environment should be rare and not part of standard curriculum or communications.

3) D220 should use biologically based curriculum, which has proven to be widely accepted and approved of by parents.

As of June 18, 37 Lake County school districts have not indicated whether they will opt out of the provisions of a new Illinois law that aligns sex education policies in grades K-12 with national standards. Nine districts in the county already have. The bill allows districts to opt out or adopt a sex ed curriculum set by the law. 

Republicans opposed the bill for being too explicit. For example, under the bill, third-graders would be taught to understand the act of masturbation. The Catholic Conference of Illinois opposed the bill because it sets standards that are inappropriate for young children and because many parents will not be aware of their options regarding the new curriculum. GOP gubernatorial nominee Darren Bailey opposed the bill, saying it is “obscene” and that it “fails to align with community standards.” 

Illinois Conservative Union Chairman Carol Davis chastised Pritzker for signing a bill adding personal health and safety standards for students as young as kindergarten. Davis said that the bill legalizes the sexual grooming of children, which will make them easy targets for sexual predators. She used the word “evil” to describe the bill. Bailey denounced the bill on the Senate floor, saying it is “putting perversion in schools.” Pritzker said that “modernizing our sex education standards will help keep our children safe and ensure important lessons like consent and internet safety are taught in classrooms,” Prairie State Wire reported. 

Pritzker also said that "Comprehensive personal health and safety education learning standards shall be adopted for pupils in kindergarten through the fifth grade and the comprehensive sexual health education learning standards shall be adopted for pupils in the sixth through 12th grades.” This applies to all public schools and charter schools in the state. The bill also requires schools “to provide age and developmentally appropriate consent education in the third through 12th grades,” and it defines the instruction and materials the school must use.