NEWPORT BEACH : Group to Discuss AIDS Education

Parents and students in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District who are concerned that local schools are not teaching enough about AIDS will meet Wednesday night to discuss the issue.

A group called Fight AIDS Through Education is sponsoring the discussion because, its members say, parents and students are worried that the district is not providing a strong enough curriculum.

Fight AIDS Through Education promotes abstinence as the best policy against contracting HIV, the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome. But the organization also believes that the district should offer more information to students who might decide to become sexually active.

Among other things, the Newport-Mesa district teaches abstinence as the best way to avoid contracting HIV in its sex education courses, which are required under state law.

“I really don’t know anybody who disagrees” with the policy of abstinence, said Jean Johnson-Vogel, a coordinator of the meeting. “Some kids just aren’t listening to that message . . . and they need information.”

The Wednesday meeting will offer speakers including a nurse, a doctor, people infected with HIV, and others who have lost friends or family members because of AIDS.

The group will also show an AIDS awareness video, and hold a discussion on a range of AIDS-related issues such as education, who is at risk, ways to stop the spread of the virus and ways to survive the epidemic.

“We’re not having a debate,” said Johnson-Vogel, whose group wants to provide a forum for those in the district.

The group hopes eventually to take its concerns to the school board and to encourage broader AIDS education in Newport-Mesa schools. Ultimately, members want to work with other Orange County school districts.

Group members say they want to provide district decision makers with a wide range of views on the AIDS situation from church leaders, government officials and the medical community.

The meeting will be at 1812 Port Abbey Place, Newport Beach, from 6:30 to 8 p.m.