Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : School District Unveils Controversial AIDS Program : Education: Sulphur Springs will offer optional information to elementary students. Parents and church leaders had protested the idea.

The Sulphur Springs School District on Thursday unveiled a proposed AIDS education program for elementary students, the development of which the school board approved five months ago despite opposition from angry parents.

The two-part, optional program has been a year and a half in the making and includes a parents-only night to provide adults with basic information about the human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome, as well as to give people a chance to review materials for the subsequent parent-student presentation.

“This is empowerment to parents,” said Supt. Robert Nolet. “It’s for those parents who want help in presenting information to their children. Those who don’t want help don’t need to come.”

In April, when the school board unanimously approved the development of a voluntary after-school program, nearly 100 parents and church leaders protested the idea, accusing the school of usurping their right to decide how their children are educated.

Parents vehemently attacked teaching about AIDS to elementary school children since to do so, they felt, would require teaching about homosexuality, which they opposed.

The program released Thursday was developed by an 18-member committee of parents, educators and health-care professionals and includes a parents-only night as well as a night for students, who must be accompanied by their parents. There are three parent-student presentations broken down by grades.

“We want to tell them only as much as they will need to know,” said Marc Winger, assistant superintendent for instructional services.

Homosexuality and specific sexual acts will not be mentioned in the presentations, Winger said, and teachers confronted by students with sex-related issues are instructed to refer the children to their parents.

In the kindergarten-through-second-grade presentation, AIDS is described as “a disease caused by a germ” that “makes it hard for our cells to kill other germs.” It also says, “Children don’t have to worry about getting AIDS.”

The presentation to third- and fourth-grade students says that “body fluids can spread the AIDS virus.”

Only the fifth- and sixth-grade presentation mentions sexual contact or drug use. The program also delves into the statistics regarding AIDS and treatment of the disease. The program stresses abstinence as the only sure way to prevent exposure to the AIDS virus.

“This is pretty basic stuff,” said Steffany Marshall, who described herself as one of the more conservative members of the committee that wrote the programs. “I mean, at the kindergarten level, we’re telling them to wash their hands.”