Peoria Standard

South Pekin School District 137 in Tazewell 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 South Pekin School District 137, which teaches 189 students, reported it has opted out of teaching the new curriculum, which includes lessons about masturbation starting in Grade 3.

There were one school district 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
Central School District 51	1,339	Opting Out
Creve Coeur School District 76	473	Opting Out
Deer Creek-Mackinaw Community Unit School District 701	991	Opting Out
Delavan Community Unit School District 703	439	Opting Out
District 50 Schools	659	Opting Out
East Peoria Community High School District 309	995	Opting Out
East Peoria School District 86	1,388	Opting Out
Morton Community Unit School District 709	3,069	Opting Out
North Pekin-Marquette Heights School District 102	438	Opting Out
Pekin Consolidated School District 303	1,827	No Response
Pekin Public School District 108	3,149	Opting Out
Rankin Community School District 98	193	Opting Out
Robein School District 85	150	Opting Out
South Pekin School District 137	189	Opting Out
Spring Lake Community Consolidated School District 606	37	Opting Out
Tremont Community Unit School District 702	900	Opting Out
Washington Community High School District 308	1,395	Opting Out
Washington School District 52	848	Opting Out