A new Rutgers-Eagleton poll shows most New Jersey residents support sex education in schools — at least for middle and high school students. The poll comes as more than 600 public school districts started rolling out lesson plans based on the state’s controversial new sex education standards. Parents who didn’t want their children to take the classes could opt out by sending a letter explaining their moral or religious objections. But so far, relatively few families seemed to be going that route.
Of 7,600 Wayne students, so far 260 have opted out of the classes, most of them in elementary schools, said the superintendent. In Middletown, about 95% of families opted to let kids participate in some or all of the new curriculum. A very few districts chose not to follow the state’s direction. The state Department of Education warned that “failure to comply can result in disciplinary action,” but didn’t specify what that entailed.
