The Roaring Fork Schools Board of Education and Superintendent Anna Cole received a letter Tuesday from the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) urging the district to discontinue its comprehensive human sexuality curriculum. 

The letter comes after months of debate over the district’s use of the Rights, Respect, Responsibility curriculum, known as the 3Rs. While the curriculum has received community support, a group of concerned parents has continued to raise concerns about lessons they describe as “sexually explicit.” Parents have also alleged the school district used a “discreet rollout” that made it difficult for them to opt their children out of the lessons.

The curriculum has surfaced during recent school board elections. In 2023, former school board member Betsy After and current board member Lindsay DeFrates spoke against letting outside voices dictate the RFSD curriculum during their campaigns, and both received over 70% of the vote. 

The issue again rose during the 2025 election, though noticeably quieter. Neither incumbent Kathryn Kuhlenberg nor Tammy Nimmo spoke in favor of repealing the curriculum, and both received over 70% of the vote. 

The letter, available on the ADF website, asks the school district to “immediately discontinue using the 3Rs curriculum.” 

The Roaring Fork School District did not comment on Tuesday’s letter. 

“Roaring Fork Schools is not only introducing kindergartners to explicit content, but also burying the information from parents and denying them a meaningful choice to opt their children out — by design,” said Kate Anderson, ADF senior counsel and director of the Center for Parental Rights. “It is understandable why parents are so concerned. Roaring Fork Schools must immediately abandon this controversial sex ed curriculum, or at the very least, allow parents sufficient notice to choose what is best for their family.”

The ADF argues that the 3Rs curriculum is too explicit and “instills gender ideology.”

“In the 3Rs curriculum, kindergartners are taught explicit anatomical terms and asked how they like to be touched, first graders complete a worksheet on reproduction, and by second grade, once-optional vulgar slides become mandatory. And the curriculum instills gender ideology through all grades,” the letter reads. 

The curriculum, available through the Roaring Fork Schools sexual health curriculum website, says the kindergarten lesson addressing touching other people’s bodies is intended to teach the children about respecting others’ boundaries.

“These are our bodies — we have the right to say whether and how we want someone else to touch them,” step two of My Space, Your Space. A Lesson Plan from Rights, Respect, Responsibility: A K-12 Curriculum reads. “That also means we need to listen and stop touching others when someone else says they don’t want to be touched.”

According to its website, ADF is “the world’s largest legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, the sanctity of life, marriage and family, and parental rights.” The firm is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, boasting 20 Supreme Court victories and a network of over 5,000 lawyers worldwide. 

The ADF letter also argues the district should replace its opt-out system with an opt-in process.

“At minimum, Roaring Fork Schools implement an opt-in procedure that ensures parents can exercise their fundamental right to direct the upbringing and education of their children by automatically exempting all children from the explicit content except for those children whose parents choose to opt in,” the letter reads. 

RFSD is one of several Colorado school districts that use the 3Rs curriculum, but the district did not adopt every lesson unchanged. The board handpicked a set of required lessons that were highlighted due to their safety. Many lessons are taught by school nurses and counselors, and in some cases, by local doctors. 

Other Colorado districts that have implemented the 3Rs include Canyon City, Steamboat Springs, Denver, Aurora, Adams 14, Fremont, Ridgeway, Silverton, St Vrain Valley, Durango 9-R, Westminster, and Harrison. 

Concerns about the curriculum prompted the board to request an update on its implementation near the end of the 2025-26 school year. 

A staff memo prepared for the May 13 board meeting details that parent opt-out rates were low throughout the district — typically ranging from less than 1% to 5% by grade level. The highest opt-out rate was 13% among kindergarten students at Crystal River Elementary School.

The ADF letter argues the opt-out process has not been sufficient.

“The district specifically chose an opt-out model over an opt-in model to ‘ensure students have access to health education,'” the letter reads. “Then, implemented a messy opt-out scheme: only two weeks’ (or in some schools less) notice, often with misleading labels like “health education” or “puberty” content, delivered inconsistently across schools through take-home folders, e-newsletters, or the Remind app.”

“We have heavily suggested to the district that it be an opt-in system rather than an opt-out,” Anderson said to the Post Independent. 

News you can trust. Straight to your inbox.

Sign up for our morning newsletter: PostIndependent.com/newsletter

During the May meeting, Cole said requiring parents to opt students in would undermine the district’s goals for the curriculum. 

“Our goal here is to maximize student access to the curriculum that we believe is essential to creating safe schools,” she said during the May board meeting. “Opting in rather than out undermines the validity of that effort, and frames it as something that’s taboo, rather than something we believe is beneficial to all students.”

Cole also described comprehensive sexual health education as a “legal and ethical responsibility” for the district.

“We see comprehensive sexual health education as a primary prevention strategy to keep our students safe,” Cole said during the May board meeting. “It is evidence-based that it prevents sexual abuse, addresses critical risk factors, promotes inclusion and positive school culture, addresses consent gaps, etc. 

“We have a responsibility under the Safe Schools Act to implement curricula that keep kids safe,” Cole continued. “We have a legal and ethical responsibility as mandated reporters to use prevention and trauma-informed response to help survivors heal and make sure students have access to tools and resources.”

The Roaring Fork Schools comprehensive human sexuality website explicitly states the benefits of the sexual education program. 

“Comprehensive human sexuality education programs have demonstrated success in reducing rates of sexual activity, sexual risk behaviors, STIs, and adolescent pregnancy and delaying sexual activity,” the website reads. “Many systematic reviews of the literature have indicated that comprehensive sex education promotes healthy sexual behaviors.”

The website continues to say comprehensive sexual education does not necessarily involve teaching them about sex.

“With younger learners, teaching about sexuality does not necessarily mean teaching about sex,” the website reads. “For instance, for younger age groups, comprehensive sexual education may help children learn about their bodies and recognize their feelings and emotions while discussing family life and different types of relationships, decision-making, the basic principles of consent, and what to do if violence, bullying, or abuse occurs. This type of learning establishes the foundation for healthy relationships throughout life.”

For more information about comprehensive human sexuality curriculum, visit rfschools.com.