West County Issue / Condom Distribution...

Norman R. Brekke, Superintendent, Oxnard School District

I do not believe there is any serious consideration about making condoms available by the district’s elementary schools. Our responsibility at the elementary level is to promote sexual abstinence for those outside marriage. While there is still a place for the availability of condoms, that place is not in our elementary schools. Since Magic Johnson’s recent announcement . . . the HIV virus and safe sex have been on almost everyone’s mind. Recognizing that, our schools must effectively address the AIDS crisis with appropriate classroom instruction. We have a comprehensive program on this subject, which extends from kindergarten through eighth grade, but the extraordinary nature of AIDS demands that our program be reviewed and strengthened where appropriate. As an elementary school superintendent, I must be sensitive to the full fabric of the community’s moral and religious beliefs. These beliefs, in my judgment, indicate that our emphasis at the elementary school level should be on sexual abstinence.

Jim Suter, Trustee, Oxnard School District

I am against the distribution of condoms at the elementary and junior high level. There has to be another way, but I don’t know what it is yet. I am a retired teacher, but I taught for 35 years and I feel we have to teach abstinence. Some kids will fall through the cracks, but we need to keep hitting on it. I know some kids are already having sex, but if we can save just one kid by teaching abstinence, that’s wonderful, and the more we save, the better. . . . I have seen tremendous opposition to passing out condoms. My phone has been ringing off the hook with people who are against it. I would say about 70% of the calls are saying no. I am just not comfortable with handing out condoms--it’s like putting a gun in the kids’ hands. If you pass out condoms, you’re saying it’s OK to have sex. The district has a great program and it is doing a good job. The students know a lot about sex and sexual diseases, but I think that elementary students are just too young for this passing-out-condoms business.

Janis Johnson, Member, AIDS Curriculum Task Force, Oxnard School District

I have no problem with distributing condoms at the seventh- or eighth-grade level, but it would have to be a rigorous, controlled distribution. It would have to be done with dignity and integrity. I don’t want to see condom machines on campus and I don’t want whoever is in charge of distributing the condoms to make students feel awkward or childish when they come in. The district should have someone, like a counselor, talk to the students when they come in and not just hand condoms out. As far as distributing condoms to elementary students, I’ll have to wait and see. Parents who feel their children shouldn’t receive information or condoms can fill out a waiver, but they shouldn’t keep the district from implementing strenuous curriculum or the possibility of distributing condoms to other students. If parents communicated more with their kids about this, or anything for that matter, the kids would come to them for answers. The district shouldn’t have to be doing this, but somebody has to.

Jack T. Fowler, Trustee, Oxnard School District

There is no question that kids are sexually active at the elementary and junior high level and those kids need information and physical devices to reduce the risk of pregnancy and and sexual diseases. Distributing condoms is not a moral issue, it is a health issue. (Schoolchildren) will pay more attention to a message that says, to be 100% safe, don’t do it, but if you personally feel you are going to do it then be moderate, selective and take precautions. There will be kids who are going to become sexually active and we need to reach them and teach them responsibility before it’s too late. They won’t listen to an abstinence message and saying it to them is meaningless. At the educational level, we are here to teach and that means teaching more than just reading and math, but safe sex as well. The AIDS epidemic is becoming so devastating that we can’t keep our heads stuck in the sand and ignore it. Kids are becoming sexually active at earlier ages, and AIDS education needs to be taught at the lower levels.

Jean Harris, President, Board of Trustees Oxnard School District

I can see compelling reasons for both distributing condoms to the students and not. I am in favor of taking the AIDS education curriculum down to lower levels in the schools because I have been hearing from the community and the staff that kids are now sexually active at an earlier age. Our function as educators is to share information with the children and their families, but it is up to the parents, based on their own values and religious beliefs, to establish their children’s behavior. It’s not up to the district to tell people what their values should be. I believe that abstinence is the appropriate behavior for unmarried young people, yet if they decide to do it, we want them to be as safe as possible. We don’t want to encourage sexual activity and it’s my fear that handing out condoms will make students feel we are advocating sexual activity. At the same time we want to educate the student so they can make wise decisions. I am really torn on this issue. I would want to hear from the community on what should be done. The decision should be made jointly and not isolated from the community.