Nonprofit asks district to drop 'vulgar' K-5 sexual education

If the district doesn't drop the curriculum, potential litigation efforts are "on the table," according to Kate Anderson, director of the Alliance for Defending Freedom’s Center for Parental Rights. The alliance most recently faced Colorado at the U.S. Supreme Court when the organization represented a counselor who sued the state over alleged violations of religious freedom. 

Anderson told The Center Square that the alliance is still waiting for a response from the Roaring Fork School District for its letter about the sexual education curriculum.

The district did not respond to The Center Square’s question about whether it received the alliance's letter. Anderson indicated that the organization has had no further communication with the school since the letter was sent, but “expect[s] this will be in upcoming board meetings.”  

The sexual education curriculum was developed by the nonprofit Advocates for Youth, which said it “partners with young people and their adult allies to champion youth rights to bodily autonomy and build power to transform policies, programs and systems to secure sexual health and equity for all youth.”

Advocates for Youth also takes part in developing LGBTQ+ sexual education material and curriculum for schools. Its website says the nonprofit developed this curriculum in line with what the nonprofit calls National Sexuality Education Standards.

The lessons provided by the 3Rs curriculum are meant to address the “functional knowledge related to sexuality and the specific skills necessary to adopt healthy behaviors,” Advocates of Youth wrote on its website. 

But Alliance for Defending Freedom’s letter questioned the curriculum and its graphics. The alliance cited a lesson used for schoolchildren as young as kindergarteners, asking them to correctly identify at least three female body parts: “namely the nipples, vulva and anus.” 

The kindergarten lesson plan is accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation, which details female and male anatomy and genitalia in drawings of a naked boy and girl. 

A note to the instructors from the kindergarten curriculum states that “[i]f you do not want students to say slang or family terms out loud … you can say them yourself. Some common terms students in this grade might recognize or use include: Pee pee; wee wee; privates; butt.”  

Alliance for Defending Freedom’s letter details stories from parents within the district who became uncomfortable with the idea that this material could be taught to their child.

Anderson addressed the alliance's letter to the school district’s superintendent, Anna Cole, and members of the school board. According to Anderson's letter, the district implemented the 3Rs curriculum in May 2023.

The letter states that the alliance was contacted by multiple parents in the district regarding “frustrations with the content and implementation of Roaring Fork’s 3Rs curriculum."  

Cole addressed the concerns from parents about this curriculum and went over opt-out procedures and the district's opt-out data at the May 13, 2026 meeting of the Roaring Forks Board of Education.

The board’s agenda for May 13 states “[w]e respect and honor parents’ right to exclude their children from these school-based lessons, and we are clear that it is our responsibility to ensure safe schools by teaching Comprehensive Human Sexuality standards in grades K-5.” 

Colorado’s Youth Wellness Act is the governing policy for the state standards for comprehensive human sexuality education in public schools. But the law does not require school districts to offer these courses. The state statute simply requires that, if such instruction is provided, it must be both medically and scientifically accurate, cover both contraception and abstinence, and promote healthy relationships. 

Notably, Section 2 (11) of the law strictly states the statutory rules governing human health and sexuality programs do not apply for children in kindergarten through third grade. Alliance for Defending Freedom flagged the district’s use of sexual education material for kindergarten classrooms. 

The statute further requires schools to distribute a written parental notice and opt-out option prior to the discussion of these materials. Alliance for Defending Freedom claims in its letter that “the Board assured parents that it ‘approved the curriculum with the expectation that there is a clear opt-out system in place for families.’ ” The alliance said that hasn’t been the parents’ experience. 

During the Center Square interview, Anderson described parents’ disappointing experiences with the school district’s opt-out system.

“In some instances, parents were not notified. Sometimes they were, through their child, another parent and their child, or a teacher. Sometimes the written notice was in their child’s take-home folder," Anderson said. "The problem here is the inconsistency. The district’s system for parental opt-outs and notification is not enough to satisfy the Colorado law, which requires both.”

In addition, some schools had monthly newsletters that labeled the teaching of this curriculum as part of the school’s “Health Curriculum,” which did not indicate any sexual education instruction.

In addition to its materials and graphics, 3Rs curriculum often refers to “binary construct of gender,” noting that “‘there are some body parts that mostly just girls have and some parts that mostly just boys have. Being a boy or a girl doesn’t have to mean you have those parts, but for most people this is how their bodies are.” 

Anderson said the “non-binary instruction could conflict with the state law requiring sexual education instruction to be based on scientific and biological facts.” 

“Our conviction is that parents should have a role in these matters," Anderson told The Center Square. "Schools should seek to work with parents on the content of education instruction, and parents should work with the schools in return."

Anderson referred to U.S. Supreme Court rulings that affirmed parents’ constitutional right to direct the upbringing of their children.  

In the 2025 ruling of Mahmoud v. Taylor, the court ruled that a Maryland school district’s refusal to provide parents with an opt-out option for their elementary school-aged children during LGBTQ+ inclusive storybook lessons was unconstitutional. The majority opinion argued it violated the First Amendment’s free exercise clause. 

Relatedly, in early 2026, the Supreme Court ruled against California public schools in Mirabelli v. Bonta, whose guidelines kept a student’s gender identity or social transition status from parents without the student’s consent. The court’s majority agreed with the plaintiffs’ argument that it violated the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause.