MISSION VIEJO : Trustees to Consider Counseling Policy

Saddleback Valley Unified School District trustees tonight will consider a compromise that may save a high school alcohol and drug counseling program mired in controversy over family planning and abortion.

The trustees will consider a policy requiring students to gain parental permission to leave class for the possibility of seeking counseling through the program, which is funded by Medi-Cal.

Administered by the Orange County Health Care Agency, the counseling program came under fire last winter when school board members learned that students could get Medi-Cal cards making them eligible for family planning services such as abortion without parental approval.

Although district officials say most students used their Medi-Cal eligibility only for counseling, and rarely even requested a Medi-Cal card, board members said parents needed more say in what types of services their children were being provided through the school district.

Through a proposed permission form, parents would be notified that because the counseling services are funded through Medi-Cal, not family medical insurance, their children could be eligible to seek confidential birth control counseling and other medical services off campus.

By signing the form, parents would be giving their children permission to leave class for the possibility of participating in the counseling program.

Actual participation by a student in the counseling would still be confidential.

Under the compromise reached last month with state health officials, students would also be able to request any of the other free or low-cost services available to them through the Medi-Cal Minor Consent program without parental permission.

The proposed compromise appeared to have the support of a board majority when it was unveiled by district officials in late August.

In April, the Health Care Agency canceled the counseling program for Saddleback students--several months after the district asked it to stop signing up students for Medi-Cal on campus unless the coverage was limited to alcohol and drug counseling.

Without the ability to register students for Medi-Cal coverage on campus, county officials said, they began losing reimbursements from the state to pay for counselors.

The school district later came up with $15,300 to revive the counseling services under its own terms for the remainder of the school year, and began negotiations with the state to find a compromise to save the program.