EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN
Premier Ford warns teachers to do their jobs when teaching old sex-ed curriculum while consultations occur
Public consultations on a new sexual education curriculum — a hot-button issue in Ontario politics — will begin in September with opportunities for online input and telephone town halls in “every region,” Premier Doug Ford said Wednesday.
The exercise is being broadened to include math and science lessons, job skills, financial literacy, the legalization of cannabis, ways to improve standardized testing and “what steps schools should take to ban cellphone use in the classroom.”
Ford said in a statement that the education ministry is releasing a revised “interim” sexed curriculum to be used by teachers in the coming school year, based on the old curriculum that was taught from 1998 to 2015, along with math curriculum changes coming soon.
He issued a warning to anyone considering whether to teach the new curriculum, brought in by former premier Kathleen Wynne in 2015, given a push from the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario for teachers to give their students the most up-todate information in the social media era.
“We expect our teachers, principals, and school board officials to fulfil their obligations to parents and children when it comes to what our students learn in the classroom,” Ford said.
“We will not tolerate anybody using our children as pawns for grandstanding and political games.
“And, make no mistake, if we find somebody failing to do their job, we will act.”
No specific penalties were mentioned.
Education Minister Lisa Thompson has repeatedly refused to say what measures the province could take. For its part, the elementary teachers union has offered legal protection to teachers facing any discipline or legal action.
Ford said the government is also drafting a “Ministry of Education Parents’ Bill of Rights” to “ensure that the rights of parents are respected throughout and following the reform process.”
Thompson will be using her authority as minister under the Ontario College of Teachers Act to establish a public interest committee to ensure “curriculum-based misconduct issues are fairly dealt with at the college,” the government statement said.
Going beyond sex education in the consultations is aimed at reforming what children are taught in school, Ford added.
“We promised to deliver an education system that puts the rights of parents first while getting back to the basics when it comes to teaching fundamental subjects like math,” the premier said.
There was no schedule provided for the consultations.
Ford and his ministers have repeatedly defended the government’s decision to scrap the2015 health and physical education curriculum in favour of the 1998 version.