SANTA ANA : School Health Clinic Plan Is Criticized

A proposal to open a school-based health clinic at a Santa Ana elementary school drew heavy criticism this week from a group of citizens who say such clinics end up distributing birth-control devices and making abortion referrals.

Santa Ana Unified School District officials say, however, that they have no intention of opening “a sex clinic” but merely want to ensure that their students are healthy and able to learn.

The proposed clinic, which has not yet been approved by the Board of Education, would focus on low-income elementary school students from kindergarten through the fifth grade whose learning might be affected because of inadequate health care, said Lucinda Hundley, director of special education and health services.

“The first clinic would serve as a pilot program and would be affiliated with one elementary school,” Hundley said.

Westminster resident Viola Floth said that although she believes the district is well-intentioned, she fears that school officials “are being used” by outside agencies that want to promote birth control.

Floth said school-based health clinics have historically moved on to the intermediate and high school level, where they have provided students with birth control and abortion referrals without parental consent. She also believes that a health clinic is beyond a school district’s realm of responsibility.

Late last year, the district conducted health screenings of first- and fifth-graders at Grant and Roosevelt elementary schools to pinpoint health problems of students from predominantly low-income areas. The screenings revealed that 88% of the students examined had some type of health problem.

School board member Audrey Yamagata-Noji said that while the district has not yet decided if a clinic is the answer, something must be done to help needy students.