Harrison Township School District Explorers

Every public school district in New Jersey is required to adopt and teach a Health and Physical Education curriculum aligned to the NJSLS. However, the curriculum and instructional resources that are used to meet these standards is a local decision made by each district, based on its own local curriculum development and review process. 

The Harrison Township School District has revised our Health and Physical Education curriculum. Throughout this time, the administrative team was able to listen and discuss these topics with many parents through phone and in-person conversations as well as through communications at board of education meetings. The district welcomes these conversations around the standards, and rest assured that this feedback was used to guide our process as we navigated through how to best meet the needs of our community while meeting the state standards.

The district believes that parents play an important role in supporting their child’s health and learning, and we respect parents’ personal choices concerning their child’s health education. To that end, the district would like to provide parents with the following important information. 

Parents will be given the opportunity to express how certain standards included in the Pregnancy & Parenting Unit, Social & Sexual Health Unit, and Personal Growth & Development Unit are presented to their child. For these topics, parents and/or guardians may: 

• Opt their child out of these topics and lessons

• Choose to collect resources from the district and present the information to their child themselves. 

• Attend an educational evening session with their child where the information will be taught

The aforementioned domains included topics brought to our attention as a concern by many of our families. They do not include all of the required CHPE standards. Parents may review the full 2020 NJSLS for Comprehensive Health and Physical Education here.  

• K-3 Comprehensive Health Unit Plans 

• • Unit: Personal Growth and Development (K-3)

• • Unit: Pregnancy and Parenting (K-3)

• • Unit: Social and Sexual Health(K-3)

• 4-6 Comprehensive Health Unit Plans 

• • Unit: Personal Growth and Development (4-6)

• • Unit: Pregnancy and Parenting (4-6)

• • Unit: Social and Sexual Health (4-6)

Please feel free to contact the Office of Curriculum should you have any questions or need additional clarification.