Birth-Control Information Urged for Simi Students : Education: Some board members argue that teaching abstinence alone isn’t enough to reduce teen-age pregnancy rates.

Some Simi Valley school officials want their district’s sex education program to include information about birth-control methods in addition to teaching students to just say no.

School board members said the district’s curriculum correctly stresses abstinence as the only way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

But in light of escalating teen-age pregnancy rates, the schools should also explain the array of birth-control options available to sexually active couples, board members said.

The proposed changes were the result of the board’s review of the district’s sex education curriculum for kindergarten through 12th-grade students.

If the board approves the changes, the Simi Valley Unified School District would join the Ventura Unified School District in stressing abstinence to students but providing birth-control information as well.

In the Oxnard Union High School District, birth-control methods are outlined only in an elective course taken by a fraction of students, while in Thousand Oaks birth control is not taught beyond the use of condoms to reduce the risk of contracting disease, administrators in those districts said.

In all districts statewide, parents have the option of choosing not to have their child attend sex education classes, administrators said.

“I know (abstinence) is the only 100% way of preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases,” Simi Valley board member Debbie Sandland said at Tuesday’s board meeting. “But teen-agers have peer pressure and they have hormones and unfortunately, they are sexually active.”

Board President Judy Barry disagreed, saying that teaching about birth control sends students the wrong message.

“By teaching them methods of birth control, I think we are giving them a false sense of security,” Barry said.

In an interview Wednesday, at least one parent active in school issues sided with Barry’s assessment and said that in a politically moderate to conservative community such as Simi Valley, a majority of parents would take that position.

“I don’t think the school district should be deciding what’s an appropriate moral point of view for all children to hear as the only point of view,” said Gene Cleveland, a former teacher and businessman active in the PTA at Justin Elementary School.

But the board’s student representative, Simi Valley High School senior Ginny Allegra, said many students are sexually active and need to be made aware of their options.

“My personal view is that abstinence is the only sure way, but knowing that isn’t the personal view of a lot of other students, I think that they should be given all of the information,” Allegra said.

Sandland said she found the lack of birth-control information to be a “big hole” in the curriculum.

Citing statistics from the state Department of Education that show California leading the nation in teen-age pregnancy rates, Sandland said the board has an obligation to address the issue.

Student pregnancy is a growing problem in the district, and the greatest increase is now being seen among junior high school-age students, said Patsy Dubrick, program administrator of an adult school program that serves 23 teen-age mothers. Not all students in the 18,000-student district who become pregnant choose to stay in school, officials said.

Teen-age parenthood is the most prevalent reason for dropping out among girls, making it a major issue for public schools to confront, Sandland said.

“I think it’s time that we realize that 75% of students have had sex by the time they graduate,” Sandland said Wednesday.

Board member Doug Crosse agreed that birth-control information should be a part of learning about sexuality in school, but he said it should be presented cautiously to reflect community standards.

A curriculum council made up of a broad range of community leaders, which reviews changes to family life curriculum, will make a recommendation on the proposed changes within several weeks, officials said.

Any proposed change is bound to stir some controversy among a “vocal minority” of conservative elements in the community, board member Diane Collins.

“I dread it but I think it has to happen,” Collins said.