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If you don't agree with what your child is being taught, what can you do?

What can you do if you don't agree with your child's curriculum?
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An empty classroom.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A Jacksonville father, Omar Austin, is angry after he found what he thinks is an inappropriate question in his daughter’s 11th-grade homework assignment.

The question reads, “Ursula was angry after her boyfriend broke up with her after having sex. To get revenge, she had sex with his best friend the next day. Ursula had a beautiful baby girl nine months later. Ursula has type O blood, her ex-boyfriend has type AB blood and his best friend is type A blood. If her baby daddy is her ex-boyfriend what could the possible blood type(s) of her baby NOT be."

That got us thinking, what can you do if you don’t agree with your child’s curriculum?

A law passed last summer, House Bill 989, allows parents to challenge any textbook or instructional material they find inappropriate or offensive.

They can also request a meeting to argue their views before an “unbiased and qualified” hearing officer.

While most of Florida’s textbooks come from a list of state-approved instructional material, it appears this question was made up by the teacher.

“The words ‘baby daddy’ and ‘baby mama’ being used, that’s foresight,” Austin said. “The fact that she’s having sex with one guy and to get revenge on this guy she has sex with his best friend the next day? I mean, that’s just not something that I want to teach any student.”

In response to that Jacksonville father, the Duval County school district released this statement

"The question was highly inappropriate and was not part of a district assessment. We are thankful to the parent who contacted the school directly to share his concerns. Immediately upon being made aware of this matter, school and district leaders began conducting a review of the situation. Appropriate and corrective action will be taken. We encourage parents to contact their school leaders directly if they ever have any concerns about their child’s school and instructional experience so that we can immediately work to problem-solve."

No specifics were given on the corrective action that was taken.

Information from this story was provided by our sister station FirstCoastNews.

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