The Omaha School Board approved new Human Growth and Development guidelines in January. Thursday night, parents and community members had the chance to look at what's actually inside the curriculum.
This was the first of four open houses for parents and teachers to look at more than a dozen curriculum material options under consideration.
But at the meeting there were more OPS personnel than inquiring people.
One of the parents who came out was Shelley Sessions, "I just think that it's important to know what my kids are being exposed to," said Sessions.
Sessions said she has four kids in OPS schools and has a couple concerns about the materials saying some of the books spend too much time on certain topics.
"Especially when it comes to 'what does it mean if I have a crush on someone' there was one curriculum that had 6 lessons on this," said Sessions.
Others say these lessons are alright for the older students but question what middle schoolers may be exposed to.
"The high school I'm not so much concerned because I believe in certain things the older kids should know but I'm really concerned about what our younger kids going to be exposed to," said concerned resident Tyrone Charleston.
Some of the newer topics may include emergency contraceptives, updated STD information and LGBTQ issues.
OPS said these sessions are a way parents can actually see what could be in their child's text books.
"So we're trying to make sure what we select matches both what our teachers and nurses recommend as well as what our parents are supportive of," said OPS assistant superintendent of curriculum instruction and assessment Dr. Renae Kehrberg.
Some parents think it was time to upgrade the class-saying updated information will help students.
"They did a great job previously and so a lot of the issues that I think a lot of people were a little unsure of is how comprehensive sex ed really did have at OPS up to this point," said parent Gina Miller.
OPS said there will be a mix of teachers and nurses who will field test some of the curriculum in March and April.
So what's next?
Early March OPS will get a tally of parent votes for preferred curriculum. Top-preferred curriculum purchased for field testing with students grades 5 through 8, and grade 10.
Mid-to-late March 2016, Human Growth and Development teachers and nurses begin field testing curriculum materials with students. Students, teachers and nurses vote on preferred materials.
May 2016- top-voted materials presented to Board of Education and scheduled to vote on offiicals HG&DCM.
Late May 2016 - Official curriculum materials purchased.
July/August 2016 - Human Growth & Development teachers and nurses trained to use curriculum with students in the fall.
Fall 2016 - Updated HG&D curriculum implemented within Omaha Public Schools.
There will be three more meetings next week about the same subjects.
