Are our children going to get enough information?
This has been by far the most common question that I have been asked. People want to know how I stand with regard to the Ford government's decision to repeal the sexual health component of the 2015 Health and Physical Education Curriculum. This is my take on the situation.
My Response
I unequivocally believe that an egregious mistake was made by the provincial government in its decision to quash the newly developed health curriculum and revert to the 1998 content. As the mother of two teenagers, I am appalled that the government thinks that the previous curriculum is even remotely adequate to meet the needs of our children growing up in today's world. As a tax payer, I am angry that we hired professionals - experts in the field and in curriculum development - to bring us into the next century and they produced their deliverable which the government then decided to toss in the bin.
Furthermore, the Ontario government has chosen to use the safety and well being of our children as pawns in the political game of vote buying. I would like to see a full reversal of this decision and the subsequent reinstatement of the revised curriculum. At bare minimum, issues such as gender identity, consent and cyber safety must be included in any revised version of the curriculum. With regard to the upcoming community consultation on the matter, I feel strongly that there was considerable effort in developing this curriculum to solicit input from a broad range of stakeholders including parents. That the government wants to waste more time and money on further consultation is ludicrous. Their lack of direction for teachers for the 2018-19 academic year is unacceptable. The Board must provide substantial guidance to our teachers as to the curriculum interpretation options available to them.
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