The St. Clair Catholic School Board continues to reassure parents who oppose Ontario's new sex ed curriculum.
Board officials say "hot-button topics" like homosexuality and anal sex, aren't mandatory in new lessons. Instead, Director of Education Dan Parr says these topics are merely guidelines of roads teachers could travel down with their students.
"Just like blueprints are written for architects and I wouldn't understand them, curriculum documents are written for teachers. The most contentious issues are samples of things teachers might use, but should not be interpreted as compulsory."
Superintendent of Education Laura Callaghan says their former "family-oriented" lessons will successfully mesh with the new standards.
"I can't say we've had a really negative response. In our catholic schools, we've always had a family-life curriculum. It's just a revised edition of what we've had for the past 30 years in our catholic schools."
Officials discussed the issue at a recent board advisory council meeting with parent representation.
