Cheektowaga Gives Students HIV + AIDS Coloring Books

Woah.

Some 7 year olds came home from school at Cheektowaga's Union East Elementary School this week with a coloring book homework about AIDS and HIV.

As you can imagine, parents are extremely concerned:

 John Tatta, the boy's father, says he was never told the second grade students would be learning about that topic.

"My son is asking questions about it, saying, 'What is it? What can it do?' How do you answer those questions you're not prepared for?" Tatta asked.

Cheektowaga released a statement yesterday:

The district has a Board policy on HIV/AIDS instruction as required by New York State. New York State requires that districts include HIV/AIDS instruction K-12. The curriculum was developed by committee in 2008 with a state education representative on the team. It is review annually. The curriculum focuses on hygiene at the K-4 level. A letter has traditionally gone home annually since 2008. We apologize for our omission. We have reviewed our policies with everyone involved. We have stopped instruction until corrective actions can be completed. Because we value our partnership with parents, an apology is going home to any affected families with the letter we have sent in the past.