A health teacher made 8th graders read aloud explicit questions about oral sex and masturbation during a sex-education lesson at a suburban school this week, outraging parents who demanded the teacher be disciplined.

The principal at Wolcott School in Thornton said he learned of the lesson early Friday after numerous phone calls from parents and directed the health teacher to apologize to his class for the two-day lesson.

Parents say this apology isn’t enough. They plan to attend the Thornton School District board meeting next week to demand that the 27-year-old teacher, Scott Groff, be suspended or fired…

Principal Stephan Harman said the teacher made a serious mistake in judgment by giving the students the handout and having them read the material aloud. Harman said the teacher told him “he didn’t read it thoroughly enough.”

The four-page handout was printed from a British Web site called avert.org. The site promotes an international organization that seeks to educate the public about AIDS and HIV prevention. Among other information, the site offers two links about sex–one “mainly for young people” and the other one titled “general questions about sex.”

The teacher made the printout from the “general questions” link, which is explicit and covers “G-spots,” orgasms, anal sex, sexual positions and a how-to guide on masturbation. The information for young people covered more standard material on dating, peer pressure, contraception and sexually transmitted diseases.

…Harman said he doesn’t know why Groff didn’t stop the lesson immediately after realizing the graphic content.

“I think he just wasn’t thinking about it. Mr. Groff has been a good teacher in other ways,” he said.

…In the future, the teacher will plan his lessons solely around the material in the standard health textbook, said Harman, who was in the class when Groff apologized. They also asked the class to return the four-page handout, but many of the 40 or so students told their teacher they threw it out or gave it to their parents.

“My daughter was the one who got to read aloud the question on oral sex,” said one mother who asked that her name not be published because she feared it would add to her daughter’s embarrassment. “I can’t even tell you how humiliating this was for my 13-year-old. This is just way, way over the line.”

Another mom called the principal’s explanation “a lame excuse.” She said her daughter told her that classmates laughed during the lesson, but some were clearly uncomfortable with reading the material to the class.

“This is not Porn 101. This is a school,” said the mom, who also asked not to be identified to spare her 14-year-old daughter further embarrassment. “This is putting girls and boys in harm’s way. It’s almost voyeurism.”