Burlington Public Schools exposes its students to explicit content

"I am here on behalf of my son and a group of other mothers who also have children with special needs like mine, and I speak for all of them when I say that we have completely lost our trust in the Burlington public school system.

My son came home last week clearly shaken up and asked me to talk privately. He said, "Mom, today we took a test at school, but the questions were really weird." So my daughter was asked, "Have you ever had sexual contact with another person?" I thought she had been opted out. And she said she had been opted out, but they still told her the survey was mandatory. So I have screenshots from her.

"Sexual contact includes things such as kissing, touching, sexual intercourse. Have you ever had sexual intercourse? Sexual intercourse, including vaginal sex, which is when a penis goes inside of a vagina. Oral sex, which is contact between the mouth and the genitals. Anal sex, which is when a penis goes in the anus (in parentheses)."

But these things keep happening over and over again, and I am tired of having to fight for the right of my child and every other child to not have sexual content pushed on them.

They are in middle school. Please let them go through puberty without this kind of stuff being pushed on them. Parents are fed up with it. I don't like being up here. I hate this. I hate conflict. But what I hate more is knowing the impact on kids of this stuff being pushed on them and becoming normalized for them. I was one of those parents who opted my child out because as soon as I saw it, I said I didn't want my child doing this, and he did it anyway. And I am disgusted that he had to answer those questions.

Did he do it? No. They told him he had to do it, and he didn't think anything of it. Explain to me what I am supposed to tell my 11-year-old daughter about butt and anal sex and sex toys. Please, I will give you the rest of my time."

The Burlington Public Schools in Massachusetts is facing a significant scandal in April 2025 after it was revealed that middle and high school students were given a sexually explicit survey at school. This survey contained graphic questions about sexual orientation, sexual intercourse (including specific descriptions of vaginal, oral, and anal sex, as well as the use of sex toys), substance use, and sexual violence.

Parents became outraged when they learned about the survey's content, deeming it wildly inappropriate for students as young as sixth grade. The situation was further exacerbated by reports that multiple students whose parents had explicitly opted them out of such surveys were allegedly forced to take it anyway. This disregard for parental opt-out requests has led to a severe breach of trust and accusations of violating parental rights and federal law, specifically the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA).

In response to the outcry, parents have demanded answers and accountability from the school district. Legal action has been threatened, and formal complaints have been filed with the U.S. Department of Education's Student Privacy Policy Office. School committee meetings have been filled with concerned parents expressing their anger and frustration, with some even calling for the resignation of the Superintendent.

The Burlington School Committee has taken some initial steps, including unanimously voting to suspend all student surveys until a new policy is adopted and removing funding for the survey provider. However, many parents feel these actions do not go far enough and are continuing to push for more significant accountability and lasting policy safeguards to prevent similar incidents in the future.