School Board Takes Up Changes in AIDS Program
With several parents and an official of Los Angeles’ Roman Catholic Archdiocese urging them to reject a controversial condom distribution proposal, Los Angeles school board members opened discussion Monday on recommendations to revamp the district’s AIDS education program.
A district-appointed task force has recommended that students in every grade learn about AIDS. The most debated of the group’s 12 recommendations calls for condoms to be made available to junior and senior high students.
The meeting included an angry exchange between board members Jeff Horton and Barbara Boudreaux. Students “are not practicing safe sex and they are passing this (AIDS) virus around,” said Horton, in arguing for condom distribution. Boudreaux, who opposes the overall AIDS education plan, countered that parents in her South-Central Los Angeles district fear that it would undermine their authority and foster promiscuity.
The other board members have not declared their positions on the proposal. A vote on all of the task force’s recommendations is expected Jan. 21.
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