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The Worcester Public Schools will be implementing selected lessons approved by the school committee from the Advocates for Youth’s Rights, Respect, Responsibility, an evidence-informed sexual health education curriculum. The curriculum will be implemented in an age-appropriate manner, by trained Health teachers, according to the National Sex Education Standards and the Massachusetts Health Education Frameworks.

Worcester Public Schools is committed to providing students with age-appropriate, evidence-based health education that empowers students to make healthy choices and affirms who they are as people. The district’s curriculum covers a spectrum of important topics that are relevant to a young person’s development – ranging from prevention of bullying and sexual assault in the elementary grades to pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections for teenagers. 

WPS uses the Rights, Respect, and Responsibility as the sexual health component of the health curriculum, which includes deliberate lessons that are age-appropriate and support state standards. We applaud the Rights, Respect, and Responsibility curriculum’s inclusion of LGBTQ+ and gender-identity topics, which impact many of our students. 

WPS respects the rights of parents and guardians who opt their students out of the Rights, Respect, and Responsibility curriculum and ensures they are properly notified of the process to do so. You can find opt-out forms on this web page.

• Lessons by Grade Level

Caregivers may opt out their student from the sexual education lessons by checking the option “I DO NOT WANT my child to participate in Rights, Respect, Responsibility lessons.” on the opt out letter sent home from the school.