Will County Gazette

Joliet Public School District 86 in Will 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 Joliet Public School District 86, which teaches 10,256 students, reported it has opted out of teaching the new curriculum, which includes lessons about masturbation starting in Grade 3.

There were four school districts 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
Beecher Community Unit School District 200U	1,045	Adopting
Chaney-Monge School District 88	416	No Response
Channahon School District 17	1,172	Opting Out
Crete-Monee Community Unit School District 201-U	4,325	Opting Out
Elwood Community Consolidated School District 203	255	Opting Out
Fairmont School District 89	301	No Response
Frankfort Community Consolidated School District 157C	2,506	Opting Out
Homer Community Consolidated School District 33C	3,598	Opting Out
Joliet Public School District 86	10,256	Opting Out
Joliet Township High School District 204	6,642	Opting Out
Laraway Community Consolidated School District 70C	419	Opting Out
Lincoln Way Community High School District 210	6,648	Opting Out
Lockport School District 91	548	Opting Out
Lockport Township High School District 205	3,864	Opting Out
Manhattan School District 114	1,640	Opting Out
Mokena School District 159	1,494	Opting Out
New Lenox School District 122	4,922	Opting Out
Peotone Community Unit School District 207U	1,266	Opting Out
Plainfield School District 202	24,915	Opting Out
Reed Custer Community Unit School District 255U	1,271	Opting Out
Richland Grade School District 88A	830	Opting Out
Rockdale School District 84	236	Opting Out
Summit Hill School District 161	2,602	Opting Out
Taft School District 90	247	Opting Out
Troy Community Consolidated School District 30C	3,911	Opting Out
Union School District 81	105	No Response
Valley View Community Unit School District 365U	15,333	Opting Out
Will County School District 92	1,377	No Response
Wilmington Community Unit School District 209U	1,182	Opting Out