Children in Orange County won’t be receiving a type of education intended to curb child sexual abuse — at least not yet this school year.
That’s because school leaders there are still deciding whether that programming complies with a new state law.
Other WRAL Top Stories
Senate Bill 49, also known as the Parents’ Bill of Rights, was passed in the most recent legislative session. It restricts instruction about sexuality below the fifth grade.
That’s prompted Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools to stop a program called Safe Touch, provided by the Orange County Rape Crisis Center. The UNC Media Hub first reported the problem this week.
Safe Touch is intended to help kids identify when they are victims of sexual assault and how to seek help from a trusted adult.
“All of us are interested in following what the law is,” said Andy Jenks, a spokesman for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. “Nobody wants to accidentally find out months from now that you broke the law without knowing it.”
But other schools in North Carolina have similar programming, and they’re not all stopping it.
The Wake County Public School System is still planning to teach a sexual assault-prevention program called Funny Tummy, provided by SAFEchild.
District spokeswoman Lisa Luten said the new law doesn’t affect this type of programming.
State Sen. Amy Galey, R-Alamance, one of the law’s sponsors, said the same thing.
“SB49 does not prohibit programs designed to prevent/stop child sexual abuse,” Galey said in an emailed statement to WRAL News.
That’s because programs like Safe Touch are not about sexuality, she said.
“It is teaching bodily autonomy and respect for another person’s body,” Galey said.
Galey said that during bill drafting, lawmakers asked whether child sexual abuse prevention programs would be affected by the language and were assured by staff the programs would not be affected.
“If a technical correction is needed to clarify, I am certainly willing to entertain that,” Galey said.
The law states: “Instruction on gender identity, sexual activity, or sexuality shall not be included in the curriculum provided in grades kindergarten through fourth grade.”
Most of the new law doesn’t go into effect until January. Schools are still working out exactly how they will implement it. School systems have had some confusion about how to implement it, prompting the State Superintendent Catherine Truitt to ask lawmakers for a compliance extension from August to the new January deadline. Lawmakers also made some corrections in the budget passed in September.
The new law has also prompted some school systems to go farther than what is required by the law in how they adjust to it. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, for example, decided to require families to sign their children up for sex education, instead of only allowing families to opt out. The new law doesn’t require schools to do that, according to lawmakers and school officials.
Jenks said Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools is still reviewing what changes it may want to make to its policies in light of the new law. He said the school system is committed to bringing the program back in some form.
“We're being thoughtful about our path forward,” he said.