AIDS Saga on Videotape Being Previewed for Possible Use by High School Teachers

A high school student named Scott confides to friends that he has “scored the sex machine” for the weekend.

Meanwhile, his girlfriend, Beth, tells her friends that she and Scott are planning to make love for the first time that weekend.

Cut to biology class where, in a seat near the back of the room, Beth unfolds a startling letter from a former boyfriend. “I’m writing this from my hospital bed,” he writes, “Beth, I’ve been told that I have AIDS.”

So begins “A Letter From Brian,” a 29-minute videotape produced by the Orange County chapter of the American Red Cross that explores the medical and ethical issues that have come with the spread of AIDS.

Produced for national distribution on a $250,000 budget, the video is a far cry from more traditional Red Cross programs about water safety or first aid.

Geared to students in grades 7 to 12, it features a frank question-and-answer session with U.S. Surgeon Gen. C. Everett Koop, who warns that AIDS is passed “through semen, blood and cervical secretions in the female.”

It includes a brief interview with an emaciated young man named Al, a former intravenous drug user, who was convinced that AIDS “can’t happen to me. I’m too smart for this to happen.” Then Al gives a bitter laugh: “I’ve got it, and it’s slowly killing me.”

And it highlights the story of Beth and Scott as, in anguished tones, they consider premarital sex, discuss their fears of contracting AIDS and wonder whether condoms can prevent it. Ultimately, they make a tough choice--in favor of abstinence.

“I care about you. I think about making love a lot . . . but I don’t think we should rush into it,” Beth tells Scott as the video ends.

Non-Preachy Format Lauded

Since late July, administrators, counselors and teachers from 19 Orange County school districts have previewed the video at the Red Cross board room in Santa Ana.

No district has committed to using it, but Red Cross officials say they are not surprised. Workbooks accompanying the video for teachers and students are not yet available, said Red Cross health and safety director Pat Baker. And once those materials are ready, “each district has its own procedures--sometimes a parent committee, sometimes an AIDS task force--to review and make the final decision.”

So far, six test groups of parents and students around the country have said they liked the video and the fact that it did not “preach” to students, Baker said.

Rep. William Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton), a frequent critic of high school sex education programs, sent an aide to screen the film. “Of all the AIDS films I’ve seen, this is the best,” his aide, Brett Barbre, said. “They stressed abstinence. They didn’t talk about ‘safe sex’ or ‘safer sex.’ They said, ‘Don’t even take the risk.’ ”

At least one school counselor had reservations about the video. “I’m not sure I want some kids to see it,” Paul Kelly, El Toro High School counselor, said. “It makes it appear that everyone’s doing it (having sexual relations). But a lot of my kids don’t even date.”

Kelly’s principal, Bob Ferguson, said he likes the film. “It was something the kids could relate to. At first, the video’s main characters said they didn’t know anything about AIDS but in the process of the film, they did become educated,” Ferguson said. He said he would like to include the video in his school’s curriculum but said it might be next year before the school board could review it and make a decision.

George Chitty, chief executive officer of the Orange County Red Cross chapter and an executive producer of the videotape, said his goal was “not to talk down to the kids but to talk with them.”

The video’s message, Chitty said, is that “you have some decisions to make. Abstinence is spoken to quite frequently but if you are going to make a decision, think about it--because the ultimate result could be death.”