Seventh-grade students were allegedly exposed to graphic material during a sex-ed lesson at a charter school in Pittsburgh. The exposure has outraged parents, who allege the teacher went too far.
According to CBS Pittsburgh, the seventh-grade science class at Propel Charter School’s Hazelwood had a section on sex education which went beyond just noting the reproductive system and into a graphic discussion about oral sex.
John Mitchell, a concerned parent, said his child learned something they were far too young for. “Now I gotta explain things to my child that she may or may not be ready for. But, guess what? She had to find out about it today,” he said. “There is no reason for that conversation in a school setting. None.”
“We said we didn’t know what it meant, and he told us to look it up, but not on a school computer because they would be able to track it,'” said one mother. “So, a little boy looked it up on his phone, and she saw images and she was traumatized.”
“My heart is broken. And, right now, I’m angry that this type of person is around our children,” another parent said through tears.
“I protect her, and then she’s at school where she’s supposed to be protected, and there’s a grown male telling a 13-year-old girl to look it up, and once you see those images you can’t erase those images,” one mother said about her daughter.
“I would like this guy to be removed. I would like for him to lose his clearances,” another parent said.
While Propel Hazelwood has a strict curriculum as part of the Propel Charter School system, based on the South Side, some instructions, including the sex-ed, come from outside sources.
“We have a partnership with Adagio Health, where they come in during a science class and they teach a sexual health education course,” said Propel Charter Schools spokeswoman Sonya Toler.
“To the best of my understanding, in this situation, parents raised some new concerns today with the principal,” Toler continued. “So, at this point the principal is starting an investigation to determine the truth in the allegations.”
The debate over the graphic nature of sex-ed in schools, some of which are pushed by abortion conglomerate Planned Parenthood, reached a fever-pitch in April when parents across the country staged a “sit out” in protest of these lessons.