Distribution of Condoms OKd in L.A. Schools

The Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday narrowly approved the distribution of condoms on high school campuses, but gave parents the option of denying their children permission to obtain them.

The action brings to an end more than two years of study and often-rancorous debate over the proposal.

Drawing cheers and jeers from more than 200 parents, activists and religious leaders who packed its meeting room, the board members adopted the measure by a 4-3 vote. The condom proposal was among 10 recommendations to expand AIDS education and prevention efforts that were considered during the meeting.

The Los Angeles Unified School District joins several urban school systems that have adopted condom distribution, including New York City, Philadelphia and San Francisco.

Board member Roberta Weintraub called it “a landmark decision for L.A. Unified.” In addition to Weintraub, Mark Slavkin, Jeff Horton and Julie Korenstein supported the proposal. Voting against it were Barbara Boudreaux, Warren Furutani and Leticia Quezada.

“I think this board . . . lacks any credibility to step into the distribution of condoms which rightly belongs in the health services sector, when we’re doing a dismal job in what we’re supposed to be doing, and that’s education,” said Quezada.

Under the plan, high schools will send home consent forms, which give parents the option of not allowing their teen-ager to receive condoms. If parents fail to return the form, school authorities will assume that the student can receive condoms. This procedure is modeled after the consent process used in high school sex education classes.

The condom proposal was the most controversial feature of a broader effort suggested last year by the district’s AIDS Education Task Force, an advisory panel that included medical experts, parents, educators and representatives of the gay and lesbian communities.

The task force recommended that the district dispense condoms to junior and senior high school students, as well as provide information on AIDS testing, prevention and treatment.

Details of the distribution will be worked out by district staff and approved by the board at a later date.

The board approved nine other proposals, including providing support services to HIV-infected employees and seeking funding for more campus health clinics. The district currently sponsors privately funded clinics on three high school campuses that make condoms available to students with parental permission.

Two of the proposals were withdrawn Tuesday night, including one that could have extended district-paid medical insurance to partners of gay employees. Officials said that measure will require negotiation with district employee unions.

From the beginning, it was the proposal to distribute condoms that triggered the most emotional debate, forcing the board to wrestle with such thorny issues as teen-age morality, parental control and legal liability.

At Tuesday night’s meeting, speakers were frequently interrupted by applause, catcalls and at one point, a confrontation between audience members that nearly became a fistfight. More than two dozen speakers delivered often-impassioned pleas for or against the condom proposal and other recommendations.

Speaking in favor of the proposal were several teen-agers and parents who said they are HIV-infected. They argued that in a time when an estimated 54% of teen-agers reportedly engage in sexual activity, it is critical for the schools to offer information and options that could possibly save lives.

“This is not a time for people who don’t have the courage to do what’s necessary for the future,” Grant High School teacher and former board member Jackie Goldberg said. “This is a time to put the children first. . . . If 10 years from now, those kids have an infection, it will be on your heads.”

Jennifer Michelle, 18, who was diagnosed HIV-positive two years ago, told the board that she wishes she had learned about the use of condoms to prevent transmission of the AIDS virus early in her teen years, when she became sexually active.

“I believe if there had been education on the subject of AIDS, including complete knowledge of condom use . . . available to me at the time I became infected, I would not be dying of this disease today,” said Michelle, who attended high school in Orange County and currently is enrolled in adult education courses in Los Angeles Unified.

Speakers against the condom proposal argued that the district would be promoting teen-age promiscuity and undermining parental control if it implemented the policy.

“By distributing condoms, we’ll only be distributing the idea that having sex is tolerable behavior. The job of educators is to teach, not to pass out condoms,” said Jim Trinity.

Others questioned how a district that has had to cancel courses and cut salaries because of a budget crisis could consider buying and giving away condoms. It is not known how much the condom distribution program will cost.

“We’re always told there’s not enough money . . . where’s the money coming from to pay for these condoms?” said Roosevelt High School graduate Ronnie Macias. “Students already know about condoms. We don’t need them in the schools. We need books.”

Teen-agers represent only a fraction of the 13,600 AIDS cases recorded in Los Angeles County during the last decade. But because the disease takes, on average, seven to 10 years to develop after infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), health experts suggest that most of the 2,400 people age 20 to 29 who have been diagnosed with AIDS countywide probably contracted the virus as teen-agers.

Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control estimate that 20% of all HIV-infected Americans are teen-agers and experts say the rate of infection among teens is increasing rapidly.

In Los Angeles Unified, schools currently devote about two weeks to learning about AIDS in health courses offered to seventh and 10th graders. In about half of its 417 elementary schools, AIDS is discussed in family life and sex education courses given in fifth or sixth grades.

Times staff writer Sandy Banks contributed to this story.

Highlights of Plan

The Los Angeles school board voted Tuesday on an AIDS education plan. Here are the specific proposals.

APPROVED

Condom distribution: Make condoms available on every senior high campus in the district, but parents have option of denying permission for their children to obtain them.

Mandatory training: Hold training sessions for all certificated, classified and volunteer staff to familiarize them with HIV infection and AIDS.

Resources: Provide support services for staff, which may include an AIDS hot line, directory of HIV-related community services, special handbooks detailing legal rights of HIV-infected employees and alternative jobs for employees with AIDS who cannot work full time.

AIDS instruction for students: Develop and update annually HIV/AIDS education curricula for all students, so that materials stress abstinence but also provide information on the use of condoms to reduce the risk of HIV infection. Parents would be allowed to keep their children out of the classes when sexual issues are discussed.

School-based health clinics: Seek funding for additional campus health clinics and work with other agencies to expand student health services.

Additional time for AIDS education: Sponsor films, assemblies, speakers and group discussions on AIDS several times throughout the year at each junior and senior high.

Oversight committee: Establish a committee to make sure schools follow the board-approved recommendations.

Female role: Work with the district’s advisory Commission on Sex Equity to develop materials that stress the right of women to resist sexual advances.

Community outreach: Develop a parent/community outreach program.

High-risk groups: Develop specific AIDS prevention strategies targeting high-risk students.

WITHDRAWN

Unmarried partners: Consider extending district benefits to unmarried “domestic partners” of employees.

Lobbying: Step up lobbying efforts in Sacramento to advocate legislation that would facilitate HIV and AIDS education.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Unified School District