Grundy Reporter

Gardner Community Consolidated School District 72C in Grundy 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 Gardner Community Consolidated School District 72C, 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 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
Braceville School District 75	96	Opting Out
Coal City Community Unit School District 1	2,078	Opting Out
Gardner Community Consolidated School District 72C	168	Opting Out
Gardner-South Wilmington Township High School District 73	191	Opting Out
Mazon-Verona-Kinsman Elementary School District 2C	254	Opting Out
Minooka Community Consolidated School District 201	4,511	Opting Out
Minooka Community High School District 111	2,695	Opting Out
Morris Community High School District 101	853	Opting Out
Morris School District 54	1,094	Opting Out
Nettle Creek Community Consolidated School District 24C	82	Opting Out
Saratoga Community Consolidated School District 60C	744	Opting Out
South Wilmington Community Consolidated School District 74	76	Opting Out