ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : A Healthy Compromise

The Saddleback Valley Unified School District appears to be on the right track to repairing an error that cost it thousands of dollars and may have caused some of its high school students to forgo counseling on important health matters.

At issue is an alcohol and drug counseling program that the district had very much wanted. The problem was that the program came with other components, namely the possibility of counseling students about family planning and abortion.

About $50,000 in state Medi-Cal funds, funneled through the Orange County Health Care Agency to the school district, paid for the programs, to be provided under the state Medi-Cal Minor Consent Program.

Although there was no evidence any students received abortions, anti-abortion advocates pressured the school board to veto the program. The state refused to pay just for the drug counseling, forcing the district to come up with $15,300 of its own funds at the end of the last school year to keep the drug counseling going.

Now a compromise is in the wind, and the board should approve it. The proposal calls for a parental permission form that explains the program better, which is a good idea.

Under this system, parents would give permission for their children to be counseled about drugs, alcohol, family planning, sexually transmitted diseases and sexual assault.

Whether any student who had received permission actually sought counseling would remain confidential.

That’s a requirement--a good one--under state law. The purpose is to protect students who seek help from suffering retaliation at home.

Parents should know what their children are up to, and if students want counseling they should be able to turn to their parents for help. But of course it doesn’t always work that way.

A number of parents said they were happy to have a program available that their children could turn to for help, including discussing with their peers problems they were reluctant to broach with parents.

The school board should approve the compromise and continue a very valuable program.