Parents outraged after 7th-graders are assigned graphic sex assignment in science class

Parents of seventh-graders are furious over a sex education project assigned by a teacher at one of Pittsburgh's Propel Charter School site.

What are the details?

According to KDKA-TV, a male science teacher at the school's Hazelwood site encouraged middle school students in the class to look up sexually inappropriate things on their electronic devices.

Parent reports alleged that the science teacher, who was teaching a segment on sex education, reportedly "graphically discussed oral sex" and prompted the children to "look it up, but not on a school computer because they would be able to track it."

So instead of using the school's facilities, some of the students reportedly looked up what oral sex was on their phones and got the shock of a lifetime.

"'We said we didn’t know what it meant, and [the teacher] told us to look it up, but not on a school computer because they would be able to track it,'" one parent said her daughter told her. "So, a little boy looked it up on his phone, and she saw images and she was traumatized."

How did parents react?

One parent, John Mitchell, told KDKA, "Now I gotta explain things to my child that she may or may not be ready for. But guess what? She had to find out about it today."

Another parent added, "My heart is broken. And right now, I’m angry that this type of person is around our children."

"I protect [my daughter], and then she’s at school where she’s supposed to be protected, and there’s a grown male telling a 13-year-old girl to look [oral sex] up, and once you see those images you can’t erase those images," another parent said.

Has the school responded?

According to school officials, some of their teaching appears to be outsourced.

"We have a partnership with Adagio Health, where they come in during a science class and they teach a sexual health education course," Propel Charter Schools spokeswoman Sonya Toler said.

According to KDKA, Toler noted that the incident was "revealed in a student mediation meeting," which both parents and the school's principal attended.

KDKA reported that the student mediation meeting was "the first time the principal became aware of the allegations."

Toler said, "To the best of my understanding, in this situation, parents raised some new concerns today with the principal."

"So, at this point the principal is starting an investigation to determine the truth in the allegations," she added.