Low-key launch for provincial sex-ed curriculum review
Ontario kicked off online process Friday to gather input from parents
Ontario’s education minister says information about telephone town halls and other details on the provincewide sexed consultations will be rolled out in phases.
But following Friday’s low-key launch of the online consultations — to gather input from parents on sex-ed and several other topics — opposition critics wonder why the govern- ment didn’t make a bigger deal about what was a key campaign promise. Education Minister Lisa Thompson told reporters at Queen’s Park that her ministry had “reached out to our school boards and they are promoting it as well within their regions, and of course we’ll be talking about our phases.” The ministry contacted school boards on Friday to say the online written submission phase had opened, with the only survey and town hall details to follow in the next week or two.
“We want to respect our stakeholders and our school boards and allow them the opportunity to reach out, and as we move forward, especially with the online survey, we’ll be looking to have a great announcement,” Thompson said.
During the election campaign, Premier Doug Ford promised to scrap the sex-ed curriculum as a nod to social conservatives, who raised concerns about material in the modernized 2015 lessons as well as age-appropriateness.
Elementary schools are now teaching the curriculum first introduced in 1998 and in use until 2014, with some minor modifications.
Parent consultations were later expanded to cover not only sex education, but also how to better incorporate science, technology and math in classrooms, and whether cellphones have a place in the classroom.
“I think that they’ve recognized that they opened this up, and the reactions that they are getting — 40,000 students walked out from high school just a few weeks ago ” prompted the quiet launch, said Liberal MPP and former education minister Mitzie Hunter. Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said the premier has “over-promised and under-delivered on what was supposed to be the biggest consultation in Ontario’s history ... the premier knows he’s on the wrong side on this issue and he wants it to just quietly go away.”
The consultations close in mid-December and Thompson has said in-person town halls are a possibility.