Inland Empire parents protest new sex education curriculum to be taught at kids' schools

CHINO, Calif. (KABC) -- Parents gathered outside school district offices Tuesday morning to express their alarm over the implementation of the California Healthy Youth Act.

The 2016 sex education law will soon be used across all school districts.

"The sex ed is out of control. It's way inappropriate for kids. We want that pulled back. We want a parents' right to choose and to be able to say what our kids are exposed to in the classroom restored," Aileen Balchowski said.

The law mandates that schools teach "medically accurate" and "age appropriate" comprehensive sex education. That also includes gender identity, HIV prevention and provides students with information about birth control options.

More than two dozen parents visited the Chino Valley Unified School District to voice their opposition to the law.

"I don't believe a 5-year-old, 6-year-old, 7-year-old should know or be educated on anything that has to do with sex because their mind is not open to that at the moment," Ricardo Chirinos said.

But district officials said they are caught between parents and Sacramento because by law they must comply.

While parents can opt their children out of some aspects of the curriculum, they cannot remove their child from the social aspects of it.

"I feel strongly that the material that Sacramento has decided upon is in stark contrast to what I believe personally," mother Shannon Hoover said.

As part of Tuesday's protest, parents pulled their children from class to demand action.

High school junior Evan Schumman said he isn't comfortable with some of the 10 hours of required material he would have to learn.

"I don't think that being taught all this gender orientation stuff would really change the bullying because we're already informed. We go to public school, where this is happening everywhere in our school anyway. I don't think having a set curriculum for it would change much," he said.

Parents also wrote letters to the superintendent, principal and lawmakers.