Metro East Sun

Marissa Community Unit School District 40 in St. Clair 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 Marissa Community Unit School District 40, which teaches 509 students, reported it has opted out of teaching the new curriculum, which includes lessons about masturbation starting in Grade 3.

There were eight 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
Belle Valley School District 119	1,100	Opting Out
Belleville School District 118	3,449	Opting Out
Belleville Township High School District 201	4,657	Opting Out
Brooklyn Community Unit School District 188	146	No Response
Cahokia Community Unit School District 187	3,143	No Response
Central School District 104	555	No Response
Dupo Community Unit School District 196	963	Opting Out
East St. Louis School District 189	4,841	Adopting
Freeburg Community Consolidated School District 70	767	Opting Out
Freeburg Community High School District 77	650	Adopting
Grant Community Consolidated School District 110	556	Opting Out
Harmony Emge School District 175	765	No Response
High Mount School District 116	339	Opting Out
Lebanon Community Unit School District 9	523	Opting Out
Marissa Community Unit School District 40	509	Opting Out
Mascoutah Community Unit School District 19	3,946	Opting Out
Millstadt Consolidated Community School District 160	721	No Response
New Athens Community Unit School District 60	487	Opting Out
O'Fallon Community Consolidated School District 90	3,572	Opting Out
O'Fallon Township High School District 203	2,479	Opting Out
Pontiac-William Holliday School District 105	642	No Response
Shiloh Village School District 85	573	Opting Out
Signal Hill School District 181	303	No Response
Smithton Community Consolidated School District 130	529	Opting Out
St. Libory Consolidated School District 30	54	Opting Out
Whiteside School District 115	1,182	Opting Out
Wolf Branch School District 113	691	No Response