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Susan Goodman of the Central Health
Center and staff members from the Grand Island (Neb.) school district are
talking to middle school parents about sex so that the parents can talk about
sex with their children. The school staff has already held morning and
afternoon sessions with parents from Walnut and Barr Middle Schools. On
February 27, they are meeting with Westridge Middle School parents. Associate
Superintendent Robin Dexter said, “We wanted to have morning and afternoon
sessions to make it possible for all parents to attend.” Grand Island Public
School (GIPS) officials believe parents should be responsible for transmitting
their own values and beliefs to their children; thus, it will be up to parents
whether to talk about contraceptives with their children.
The district adopted its current sex
education curriculum—called WAIT, which stands for “Why Am I Tempted?”—for the
1998–1999 school year as part of a multi-year federal grant to see if the
abstinence-only curriculum was effective in preventing teen pregnancies. At the
time, Hall County had a higher-than-average rate of STDs and unwed teen
mothers, which is still true today. According to a Robert Woods Johnson report,
Hall County’s birth rate for teens ages 15 to 19 was 67 per 1,000 girls in
2012, in comparison to a statewide rate of 36 births per 1,000 girls ages 15 to
19 for Nebraska.
Dexter explained that the GIPS
district received the federal grant and adopted the WAIT curriculum before she
began working for the school district. Even though the federal grant has ended,
GIPS still uses the WAIT curriculum, said Dexter, adding that it appears to be
the best available abstinence-only curriculum. Despite the abstinence-only
curriculum, some GIPS students are choosing to be sexually active. “Last
spring, we had 79 students who were either pregnant or who had given birth,”
Dexter said. She estimated the district also might average one or two middle
school pregnancies per year. Dexter emphasized that the school district’s sex
education program is designed to be age appropriate.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
