May 14, 2020 / Modified may 14, 2020 3:43 p.m.

TUSD approves updated sex education curriculum

One board member called the curriculum "inclusive, medically accurate and comprehensive."

TUSD 1010 hero 2 The Tucson Unified School District office, 1010 E. 10th St., Tucson, Arizona.
Nick O'Gara/AZPM

Listen to an interview with TUSD School Board President Kristel Foster:

The largest school district in Tucson has adopted a new sex education curriculum, an issue that has raised much debate in the past year.

The Tucson Unified School District governing board unanimously approved Tuesday the Family Life Curriculum. Board members voted last September to hold the vote on the curriculum until multiple stipulations were met.

"Our new curriculum is inclusive, it's medically accurate and comprehensive," said board president Kristel Foster.

District officials say a final draft of the curriculum was finished in April that emphasizes abstinence and places the topics of gender expression, gender identity and sexual orientation at the high school level.

"We have a lot of young people who are identifying as gender fluid or nonbinary, and when they don't see themselves in the curriculum, that just does harm," said Foster.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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