Some valley parents will keep children home from school for “SeXXX Ed Sit Out” set for Tuesday

A group of about 20 parents and grandparents showed up at Desert Ridge Academy in Indio Monday, even though school was out for the holiday.

The gathered to talk about and prepare for their protest planned for Tuesday.

“As parents, we still need to keep the right as to when, how and how much to teach our kids in regard to sexuality,” said Indio mother of five, America Figueroa.

Figueroa told us she is the Hispanic spokesperson for the group “Informed Parents of California” the group putting on the “SeXXX Ed Sit Out”.

She says about 100 families from all three desert public school districts have signed up, to keep their children home from school.

“It is not age appropriate, It is not medically accurate, so it is not good for the children,” said Figueroa.

Figueroa says parents and children in more than 40 districts around the state will be participating in the demonstration against new sex ed curriculum now being used in valley schools, and elsewhere in California, which KESQ reported on last November.

The new material comes as a result of AB 329, the “California Healthy Youth Act”, which became law in January 2016, and includes topics such as “gender and sexual orientation”, “bullying and abuse”, and a “birth control guide”.

As part of the sit out, the parents and grandparents say they plan on demonstrating outside school district offices Tuesday morning.

With school district offices closed Monday, representatives were not available to comment on camera. However, two districts provided written statements to News Channel 3 about the demonstration.

“We’ve got 7th graders that are going to be taught anal sex, and demonstrations on putting on condoms, in 7th grade, Its not age appropriate as far as i’m concerned,” said La Quinta parent Jason Gayler.

The parents say they want AB 329 overturned, and they want more local, parental control over what is taught in class.

“It kind of hurts to think that the government knows how to better raise our kids than we do,” said grandparent Raymond Torres.

We are told we are told the protests in front of local district offices will happen Tuesday morning from 7:30 to 9:30.

A representative from Palm Springs Unified School District provided this written response to the group’s concerns:

“At the Palm Springs Unified School District we take our responsibility regarding Sexual Health Education very seriously. We are in the process of bringing our curriculum and procedures into compliance with recent state laws. We continue to make our current and any future curriculum available to be reviewed by parents and to allow parents to choose to have their students participate in an alternate activity during the lessons that they can opt out of legally. Our programs and all images and content are age appropriate and medically accurate as required by law and a new curriculum we are moving towards next year has been approved by a the Adolescent Sexual Health Working Group (ASHWG). ASHWG consisted of representatives of the California Department of Public Health, California Department of Education, the California Department of Health Care Services and others. They carefully reviewed all content, including images, and approved the curriculum for specific grade levels. At the same time, we are ensuring that all parents receive timely communication about their right to review current and future materials in advance and withdraw their students as allowed by law.”

PSUSD will be adopting a new sex ed curriculum in mid-march. A parent meeting is scheduled for March 5th, at 6:00 PM in the Board Room. The district says “all secondary parents will be notified”.

A representative from Desert Sands Unified School District provided this written response to the group’s concerns:

“Desert Sands Unified School District welcomes parental involvement and values student voice in the teaching and learning process. The adoption of local curriculum to support the requirements of state legislation (adopted 2016) known as the California Comprehensive Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention Education Act to the California Healthy Youth Act included opportunities for parent input and feedback. The district continues to afford parents opportunities to review curriculum materials, and to further discuss the associated state legislation. In addition, the district recently conducted a series of parents meetings at local high schools to further share and discuss adopted curriculum and state legislation, as well as parent opt out provisions. Concerned parents may set up appointments with the district’s educational services division should they have additional concerns. Students absences will be recorded as unexcused as defined by law and administrative regulations.”