Kendall County Times

Newark Community High School District 18 in Kendall County won’t be teaching the state’s new controversial sex education curriculum, despite protests the lessons are “obscene and fail to align with community standards.”

The Newark Community High School District 18, which teaches 168 students, reported it has opted out of teaching the new curriculum, which includes lessons about masturbation starting in Grade 3.

There were one school district which did not reply to a query about if it would opt out of teaching the curriculum or said it would wait to make a decision.

The curriculum was criticized by Republicans as “outrageous” and “perverted” while advocates claimed it would safely teach students about things they’re already learning on the internet.

Out of Illinois’ 852 school districts, 520 have opted out of teaching the lessons, leaving students with no sex education lessons at all.

School districts can’t normally opt out of teaching part of a curriculum. However, the sex education bill signed by the Illinois governor included the opportunity for school districts to opt out of teaching the curriculum if they were opposed to the teaching. Some school districts have opted out of teaching the curriculum for certain grades.

Individual school data was gathered by grassroots organization Awake, IL.

School District	Number of Students	Decision
Lisbon Community Consolidated School District 90	95	Opting Out
Newark Community Consolidated School District 66	223	Opting Out
Newark Community High School District 18	168	Opting Out
Oswego Community Unit School District 308	17,010	Opting Out
Plano Community Unit School District 88	2,293	Waiting
Yorkville Community Unit School District 115	6,266	Opting Out