The Wapakoneta community has a variety of reactions after finding out parents can opt out of a middle school lesson on the Islamic region. According to Facebook posts, a 7th grade social studies teacher gives parents the option to pull their kids from a lesson on Islam, including studies on Muslims. The city schools's Superintendent, Keith Horner, confirms the actions, saying lesson falls under the normal standards of the social studies curriculum, covering broad and general information.
As a former social studies teacher, Horner recommends students be educated about other parts of the world to be good decision makers. "We recognize that it's a sensitive issue for parents, so we want to respect that particular point of view, number one, but number 2, we don't recommend that parents do this as an educational piece, we think it's important for kids to know about the world that they live in," said Horner. Horner tells us they've dealt with this issue in other situations. He says this is normal policy for all controversial topics  that come up in school curriculum.
