NEWPORT BEACH : Residents Seek More AIDS Information

About 200 parents and teen-agers, along with a few elementary schoolchildren, packed an AIDS discussion session at Newport Harbor High School on Wednesday night, with the overwhelming majority saying that schools should provide more information about the prevention of the disease.

Virtually every hand in the audience shot up when one of the panelists, identified only as Joe, a 22-year-old man with AIDS, asked if they would like AIDS victims like him to hold informal talks and counseling at the school.

“It’s such a serious subject that (administrators) should be aware of who they’re putting out there to teach us,” said Kelly Barnes, a Newport Harbor High sophomore who supports more AIDS education. Many students stayed after the two-hour discussion to talk with Joe.

The discussion, planned by parents’ groups from the high school and nearby Ensign Intermediate School, was divided into two parts. The first part dealt with statistics about the increasing number of people who have contracted HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, the second giving explicit information on how to use condoms and other contraceptive measures.

Among the speakers were health department officials, health-care providers and residents who have had friends or family members die of AIDS.

Throughout the meeting, discussions ranged from accounts of how AIDS patients spend their final days to descriptions of proper condom use. Health-care counselor Lynn Posey commented that not only will condoms fail if used incorrectly but that “if you leave them home in your dresser drawer, they’re not going to make a difference either.”

A sprinkling of parents said they would be concerned about further sex and AIDS education in district schools. For the most part, those courses stick close to the state-mandated curriculum stating that abstinence from sexual activity is the best way to avoid the human immunodeficiency virus.

“You can’t talk about abstinence and condoms in the same breath,” said parent Cindy Foley, whose child attends Ensign Intermediate. “There’s a lot of children . . . who need to (see) the whole picture. We’re not just talking about genitals, we’re talking about emotions, families and values.”

Although a few parents and students stopped by to shake Foley’s hand or whisper in her ear after the talks, those who shared her viewpoint seemed to be in the minority. Many in the audience said they were grateful for the opportunity to hear more about how AIDS is spread and treated, and some said they hoped that the few school board members present would take the large turnout as a show of support for more AIDS education.

Organizers and participants of the meeting, who cited some of the questions and statements from students at the meeting, such as, “My boyfriend says because I’m on the birth-control pill, I can’t really get AIDS,” said many students were receiving inaccurate or deficient AIDS information.

“I could stand up and teach more about AIDS than we get in school,” said school senior Kelly Abraham.

Added sophomore Shannon Silva: “We spend how many days in school, and they can’t even let us have one class that could save our lives.”

Many parents who planned Wednesday’s meeting hope to start regular monthly meetings to offer AIDS education and informal counseling for students and parents.