What to know about Sheboygan high school sex ed curriculum changes

Alex Garner, Sheboygan Press

SHEBOYGAN – High school students at Sheboygan Area School District schools will see changes to the human growth and development curriculum this upcoming year.

The SASD Board of Education approved changes from the Human Growth and Development Citizens’ Advisory Committee, tasked with reviewing the existing curriculum and identifying areas to update, earlier this summer. The new curriculum received unanimous approval from the committee, composed of community members, like teachers, parents, clergy and high school students.

The committee determined last year a 2007 textbook in use was outdated, and the school district needed to bring its curriculum up to date with state and national standards. Doing away with a textbook format, the committee designed its own curriculum, using educational standards as a guide.

Eric Spielman, coordinator of instructional services for SASD and member of the committee, said the biggest change is the format and new resources included.

Superintendent Jake Konrath said the goal was to create a transparent curriculum for parents to review and determine if they’d like their children to partake.

“It really puts parents in a position of control,” Konrath said.

The curriculum is taught over a 10-day unit once during a student’s high school career. Parents can review the curriculum during registration, available in a slideshow, and decide to opt out their children for individual lessons or the entire program.

When asked about specific content changes, neither Spielman nor Konrath could provide any examples.

When does school start?: When is the first day of school in Sheboygan County? Here's a list.

High school curriculum topics include gender identity, contraception

  • Hormones and human sexual response cycle

  • Male and female reproductive systems

  • Differences in biological sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity and expression

  • Differences in sexual orientation, sexual behavior and sexual identity

  • Contraceptive methods and abstinence

  • Laws related to reproductive and sexual health care services and family planning (pregnancy, adoption, abortion and parenting)

  • Pregnancy signs, development stages and prenatal practices

  • Sexually transmitted diseases, HIV and related laws

  • Healthy relationships

  • Behaviors and laws related to personal safety (bullying, dating violence, sexual harassment and related violence)

Middle school students learn about reproductive systems, adolescence

The “health/life readiness” curriculum is for sixth- to eighth-grade students at Farnsworth, Urban and Horace Mann middle schools. Some content is taught only in seventh and eighth grade.

Curriculum is pulled from a Human Sexuality textbook and several videos. Parents can request alternate lessons if they don’t want them to participate in the standard curriculum by contacting their student’s health teacher.

  • Male and female reproductive systems

  • Changes in adolescence (physical, social, cognitive and emotional)

  • Differences in gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation

  • Sexual intercourse and human reproduction

  • Pregnancy, abstinence, contraception

  • STDs and HIV (transmission, symptoms and impacts)

  • Healthy relationships, dating violence, sexual harassment and related violence

  • Effects of communicating with technology and social media

Health education begins in elementary school with puberty

Early topics of human growth and development are covered in fourth and fifth grade, focusing on puberty, menstruation and fertilization. Students will watch “Always Changing and Growing Up” videos, two for girls only, two for boys only, and one for girls and boys watched separately.

Curriculum addendums drew mixed public opinion

Community members who attended several board meetings during the 2022-2023 school year had mixed views on the committee’s proposal for addendums to the curriculum related to HPV and Hepatitis B vaccine information (high school), IUDs (high school) as contraception and gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation terminology.

Gender and sexuality terminology is present in middle and high school curriculum, but it appears vaccine and IUD information is only covered at the high school level.

Human Growth and Development committee will meet next month

Spielman said the committee will meet in September to discuss plans for the upcoming school year. The committee doesn’t intend to return to a textbook in the future, he said.

Have a story tip?Contact Alex Garner at 224-374-2332 or agarner@gannett.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @alexx_garner.

This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: What is taught in high school sex ed classes in Sheboygan?

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