This article originally appeared here, at fairfaxschoolsmonitor.com
Sex education instruction has traditionally been taught to elementary- and middle-schoolers in separate classes for boys and girls, but in the recently completed academic year FCPS implemented a controversial “pilot program” combining the two sexes. Fairfax Schools Monitor has learned that this program has been renewed for the 2025-26 academic year.
About three years ago, FCPS’s Family Life Education Curriculum Advisory Committee (FLECAC) recommended that boys and girls receive sex education in gender-combined classes starting in the 4th grade. The purpose was to cater to the powerful transgender lobby, which didn’t want the rare student experiencing gender dysphoria to be forced to choose whether to attend the boys’ class or the girls’ class.
The School Board conducted a survey to gauge public reaction. The result was overwhelming opposition: 84 percent of the respondents — including parents, teachers, students and other community members — told the Board that combined-gender sex-ed was a bad idea. Faced with this outcry, the Board postponed a vote until the next school year.
The next year, FLECAC modified its proposal slightly by recommending that gender-combined classes begin in the 5th grade rather than the 4th, but the School Board was still reluctant to vote for it in the face of strong public opposition. It again took no official action, and the proposal seemed to have died.
But it didn’t. It just came in through the back door.
At a May 21, 2024 work session of the School Board (open to the public but sparsely attended), one Board member asked what had happened to FLECAC’s combined-gender proposal. The Superintendent then disclosed that FCPS would be introducing a “pilot” unisex program in the 2024-25 academic year. The School Board had somehow approved the plan secretly, without going on record with a formal vote. Fairfax Schools Monitor publicized and criticized this plan. See, “Unisex Sex-Ed Classes Are Being Implemented in FCPS Elementary and Middle Schools,” June 7, 2024, and “School Board’s Contempt for Parents on Full Display,” July 2, 2024.
The program was implemented in ten elementary schools and four middle schools. It included two sex-ed classes for each of Grades 5 through 8:
Other lessons in the “Human Growth and Development” curriculum were continued as gender-separate during the 2024-25 school year.
The schools included in the pilot program were:
Elementary Schools:
Middle Schools:
Parents/caregivers of students in these schools were given two options via an electronic letter from FCPS. A sample of the communication is HERE. Option 1 was to participate in the gender-combined classes. This was the “default” selection — if parents took no action, their children would be put into the combined classes. The second option was to enroll students in the traditional gender-separate classes. But to exercise this option, parents had to go on-line to fill out an opt-out form.
Parents/caregivers also had a third option, which has been in place for quite some time — removing their children from all the Human Growth and Development classes. But this choice was described in a different communication from FCPS, thus creating opportunities for confusion.
Since Option 1 was the “default,” it ensured that many students would be placed in the pilot program despite the contrary preferences of their parents. FCPS wanted the program to be a “success,” i.e., to maximize participation. FCPS knows that a significant percentage of busy parents don’t carefully read all the materials sent to them by the school system, and don’t exercise all their rights. FCPS knew that if the pilot program only included students whose parents affirmatively chose to include their children in it, participation would have been minimal. Therefore, the administrators decided to include all students whose parents didn’t take action to opt them out.
The results were what FCPS wanted and expected. Only 15% of 5th and 6th graders were opted out of the combined-gender classes for the 2024-25 school year. Opt-outs were even less for older students: only 8% of 7th graders and 4% of 8th graders were opted out. Quite a contrast with the 84% opposition expressed in the public survey.
The FCPS letter to parents/caregivers stated that “After all of the lessons have been taught, parents/guardians, teachers, administrators, and students will have the opportunity to provide feedback on their experience.” Fairfax Schools Monitor has not learned whether parents and students were actually given this opportunity or, if so, what the feedback was.
Fairfax Schools Monitor assumed that after a year of easing in combined-gender classes via a “pilot,” the program would be expanded to all elementary and middle schools in FCPS, and would be extended to additional lessons in the Human Growth and Development curriculum. Why hasn’t this happened? Why has the pilot only been renewed in a limited number of schools for a limited number of sex-ed classes?
The answer relates to the suspension of FLECAC activities in March of this year. See “FLECAC Is No More!!!!,” March 14, 2025. Changes in the sex-ed curriculum have, in the past, been subject to input from a citizen advisory committee. The School Board and Superintendent haven’t yet put into place a new or revised curriculum advisory committee, so the Superintendent has decided to maintain the status quo for the 2025-26 school year. Presumably, the “pilot” program will continue in the same fourteen schools as last year. Given the obvious desire of FCPS to push forward with gender-combined instruction, further changes seem likely for 2026-27, but for now there will be no expansion.
The new school year began this week. Parents of children in the fourteen schools should log onto the Parent Digital Consent page on the FCPS website to determine if notices of parental rights have already been sent. If they have, the options should be studied and exercised. Parents can opt their children out of the gender-combined classes, and, if desired, opt them out of all the Human Growth and Development lessons. If notices haven’t yet been sent, parents should be alert for them.
Parents of all FCPS students, even if not enrolled in one of the “pilot” schools, should be aware of their right to opt their children out of the Human Growth and Development lessons. Now is the time for parents to inform FCPS of their choices.
Many parents have strong and legitimate concerns about efforts by FCPS to indoctrinate their children on matters that should be controlled by families rather than the government. It is therefore important for parents to be fully aware of their rights and to enroll their children only in lessons that comport with their values. All parents, but particularly those whose children attend one of the “pilot” schools, should carefully consider the options available to them.