Does New Canaan health education cover ‘gender identities?’
NEW CANAAN — Gender identity is “currently not” covered in the district's curriculum, according to Jonathan Adam, the town's Health and Physical Education Coordinator for kindergarten through eighth grade.
The topic was broached this week when one Board of Education member inquired bout inclusion efforts on behalf of gay students and another asked if the curriculum includes gender identities following a presentation made on health education.
Republican Board of Education member Julie Toal asked if “gender identities” is “in our lessons plans,” and, if so, what grade it comes up.
Adam responded by saying it is not in the current curriculum before expounding, saying that parents often ask about gender related topics when their children are studying “human growth and development or the puberty lessons.” Parents are given a guide to follow about what is taught in the district's health classes and they have the “opportunity to remove their child from that lesson” if “they felt like they wanted to actually teach that to their children.”
Democrat board member Penny Rashin recanted a personal anecdote of a friend's son never having “felt supported enough” whiel in high school to “come out” as gay. She wondered aloud what the district is and could be doing “to make certain that all who are at the high school feel safe and supported in their own personal decisions and sexualities.”
Adams said the topic is “definitely something that we're looking into further” and that there needs to be more open dialogue on.
Superintendent Bryan Luizzi said that part of the school climate and culture is to create a space where all students feel “accepted and engaged and welcomed.”
Luizzi and Adams both emphasized the importance of students talking to a ”trusted adult.”
The superintendent explained New Canaan High School's Connections Program, in which every student meets in a small group with a teacher to develop “a relationship with a trusted adult that they meet with regularly and are able to work through things.”
Toal asked if parents are notified if a child speaks to a teacher, administrator or counselor and it becomes apparent the child is in an unhealthy relationship.” If staff learns of something “more serious in nature,” Adams said, they will make contact with the parents.
Board member Brendan Hayes said he was glad that Adams agreed to make an effort to get other teachers up to speed in what is being taught in health education, noting that teachings on the topic continue to evolve.