School Health Clinic OKd but It Won’t Issue Contraceptives

The Culver City Board of Education has unanimously approved the establishment of a health care clinic at the Culver City Middle and High School, but voted against allowing the clinic to dispense contraceptives to students.

The board made the decision Tuesday night after hearing more than 60 speakers debate the issue during an emotional 3 1/2-hour meeting at Linwood Howe Elementary School. More than 500 students, parents, community leaders and members of various religious groups attended the meeting.

Opponents, some carrying signs labeling the health clinic a “sex clinic,” argued that dispensing contraceptives to children would undermine parental authority and contribute to promiscuity and the spread of AIDS.

Supporters of the proposal, many of them students, said that the failure to provide complete services would lead to unwanted pregnancies.

Use of Consent Form Recommended

The board-appointed advisory committee, composed of parents and students, recommended that the school-based clinic be allowed to distribute contraceptives to students whose parents sign a consent form.

However, the board decided against the committee’s recommendation and instead took the advice of Supt. Curtis I. Rethmeyer, who said he opposes the dispensing of contraceptives on campus on “philosophical grounds.”

“It is my belief that the dispensing of contraceptives would send a message that we condone the sexual activity of the youths,” he said. “I’m surprised to find that there is the kind of support for it that there is. My recommendation is based on a philosophical position. I feel if people want to get contraceptives, there are lots of sources (outside of school). We don’t have to dispense them at school.”

Years ago, Rethmeyer said, the board faced a similar situation when it considered establishing smoking areas for students in the schools. The board decided against the smoking proposal because it said it would send a message to students that smoking was acceptable, he said.

The board vote to establish the Culver City Youth Health Center authorizes the district and UCLA Medical Center, which will help administer the clinic, to seek financial support from other sources. The board also asked for information on the cost, operation and liability of providing clinic services.

Range of Services

The clinic will offer a range of services including sports medicine, treatment for minor illnesses and injuries, mental health counseling and gynecological examinations.

Most of the debate, however, was on whether the clinic should issue contraceptives.

“Offering free contraceptives gives a mixed message, and I don’t think that makes you responsible for your own actions,” board member Julie Lugo Cerra said. “I do think this is something that should be handled in the family and I do have a problem with children as young as 12 years old who are not fully mature.”

Board member Robert Knopf, who supported the proposal, offered a motion to accept the recommendations that the clinic dispense contraceptives, but he failed to get a second.

School board members Bess Drust and board President Kay Lyou, a member of the advisory committee, said they would follow the superintendent’s recommendation.

Whistling in the Wind

“I am deeply saddened by the fact that so many of our children have chosen to grow up so quickly,” Lyou said. “In the high school, roughly half our children are sexually active and in the middle school a quarter are active. So how do we deal with that? We can say, ‘Don’t do that, you are too young!’ but we can whistle in the wind with more effect.”

Board member Diane Pannone said she would rather see the district collect more information on the need to distribute contraceptives. Perhaps after the clinic has been in operation for a while the board would be able to make a better determination, she said.

Pannone and others on the board questioned the accuracy of a survey on student sexual activity. They suggested that students may not have been entirely honest in their responses, and that figures on sexual activity among middle school students ages 12 to 14 seemed unusually high.

In the survey of 1,197 middle and high school students, 29% of the middle school students and 54% of the high school students said they were sexually active. School officials said that 11 students gave birth last year, compared to two to three the previous year.

Doctor Praises Decision

Dr. Tom Long, director of adolescent medicine at UCLA Medical School, praised the board for its decision. “I think it is a wise decision,” he said. “I think it will allow the school board to get more information.”

Sandra Segal, a Culver City High School nurse who supports the proposal, said, “I’m disappointed, but I do feel that the main concern is to have a health clinic to service most of the needs of the students. This is a big first step.”

Tom Supple, a spokesman for Parents United for Culver City Youth, said that he was pleased with the board’s decision, but his group plans to continue to press the board to prevent the issue from surfacing again.