Sangamon Sun

Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley Community Unit School District 5 in Ford 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 Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley Community Unit School District 5, which teaches 945 students, reported it has opted out of teaching the new curriculum, which includes lessons about masturbation starting in Grade 3.

There were no 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
Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley Community Unit School District 5	945	Opting Out
Paxton-Buckley-Loda Community Unit School District 10	1,280	Opting Out