Twenty school boards have now spoken out about the province reverting back to a two-decade-old sex-ed curriculum — some raising concerns that by avoiding talk of gender or same-sex families boards could find themselves in violation of human rights legislation.

Boards are now appealing to the education ministry for clarity on what educators are to teach this fall, given the confusing messages from key government ministers.

The old sex-ed curriculum, which dates back to 1998 and was taught until 2014, does not mention issues of consent, cyberbullying, sexting or same-sex marriage.

Education Minister Lisa Thompson, who has ducked reporters on the issue since mid-July, said Monday that “teachers are going to be going back to what they taught in 2014, and they’re familiar with that curriculum.

“And we’re doing that because we’re respecting parents. Through the campaign we heard loud and clear parents were not happy with the direction the former Liberal government took, so we’re listening to parents.”

“... I have every confidence in our teachers, and in the interim, in tandem, we’ll be consulting with our parents” before making changes, she said.

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Sam Hammond, president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario — the country’s largest teachers’ union — said it is looking at all options.

He also noted that there are social media postings about “a number of ways (teachers) can teach in an expanded way all of the issues (Premier) Doug Ford and his government are removing, and intend to remove.

“Teachers will use their professional judgment to ensure they are responding to the needs of their students on an ongoing basis.”

Hammond called comments by Deputy Premier and Health Minister Christine Elliott “extremely disturbing and concerning.” Elliott said teachers could have “private” conversations with kids about issues not covered in the old sex-ed curriculum.

“Our members know that’s absolutely not appropriate,” Hammond said.

Others have said it could leave teachers in violation of their profession’s standards and vulnerable to complaints to the Ontario College of Teachers.

The Peel public board did extensive outreach before the new curriculum was introduced. It produced its own guide which was endorsed by local leaders from all religions.

“The process was going very well,” said Chair Janet McDougald.

The few lessons pertaining to actual sexual health education aren’t usually taught until later in the school year, “so there is some time,” McDougald said. She hopes boards can continue to teach social media awareness and consent.

McDougald also said talking about same-sex families “is a part of human rights, and you can’t opt out of human rights,” she added. “You can’t say ‘no, we’re not going to talk about different kinds of families.’ I don’t know if the Conservative government understands that either. They don’t seem to be consulting with any boards that are concerned.”

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“Every day it changes,” she added. “So we’re going to wait, going to wait until we have to make a board decision without direction.”

Other boards issuing statements include the Toronto District School Board, Durham District School Board, as well as Kawartha Pine Ridge, Thames Valley, Ottawa Carleton, Simcoe County and Lambton Kent.

Ontario has more than 70 publicly funded school boards.