Health Clinics at Two High Schools Voted

The Los Angeles school board gave preliminary approval Thursday for two high schools--Jordan in Watts and San Fernando High--to become sites for pilot clinics that will offer primary health care, including birth-control counseling and the dispensing of contraceptives.

Formal approval of the school sites is expected during a regular board meeting Monday. The board approved the concept last fall, despite opposition from several groups, including the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, that the clinics would promote promiscuity among teen-agers and undercut the authority of parents.

According to board member Jackie Goldberg, co-sponsor of the clinic proposal along with Roberta Weintraub, the clinics will be privately funded and will be operated by local health organizations. District officials hope that at least one clinic will be open by early next year, Goldberg said.

Under guidelines developed by the school district staff, the clinics will offer a wide range of services, including general physical examinations, treatment of minor illnesses and injuries, weight control, and mental health counseling. In addition, a full range of birth-control materials and services, pregnancy testing, prenatal care and screening for sexually transmitted diseases--including AIDS--will be available.

Only students who have obtained parental consent will be allowed to use the clinics.

Jordan and San Fernando high schools were selected from a list of eight high schools that had expressed interest in hosting a clinic. Jordan, which is predominantly black, and San Fernando, which is predominantly Latino, were chosen because of a district staff recommendation that said the two schools have the greatest need for health services.

The recommendation also was based on statistics indicating a higher-than-average rate of pregnancy, infant mortality, deaths and sexually transmitted disease among teen-agers in communities surrounding the schools.

The board has tentatively selected the Watts Health Foundation to staff and operate the Jordan clinic and Northeast Valley Health Corp. to run the San Fernando High clinic. Both health organizations have extensive experience in the adolescent health care field, Goldberg said.

According to district staff estimates, each clinic will cost $250,000 a year. The district plans to solicit primary funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a Princeton, N.J.-based philanthropic organization that has supported school-based health clinics in other states.

A growing number of school districts nationwide have established or are planning such clinics. According to the Support Center for School-Based Health Clinics, a part of the Washington-based Center for Population Options, about 35 clinics are in operation and an additional 75 are in development. Most of the clinics offer family-planning services in addition to general health care.

The clinics have generated protests largely from religious or conservative groups. A clinic proposal in the San Diego Unified School District was rejected last month after a one-day boycott of city high schools endorsed by local Roman Catholic leaders.

According to a spokesman for the family life division of the Los Angeles Archdiocese, a special task force authorized by Archbishop Roger Mahony is studying plans for a formal protest but has not decided what shape that protest will take. “We have not mentioned a boycott at this stage,” said Msgr. Charles Fortier, who heads the archdiocese’s family life bureau.