School Board Approves AIDS Program : Curriculum: The information is aimed at Sulphur Springs elementary students. It will not take place during regular instruction.

Facing only nominal opposition, the Sulphur Springs School District board unanimously approved an elementary school AIDS education program that had drawn sharp opposition from parents five months ago.

Stressing that the program is optional, does not take place during regular instruction and allows prior parental review of all materials, school board members Wednesday night gave their support to a two-part program on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

“I’m sure there are some people who would never accept this, but we need to be informed,” trustee Art Wilde said at the board meeting. “An informed public is always better than an uninformed one.”

But Michael McGuire, a candidate for the school board in Sulphur Springs, disagreed. “AIDS education is the responsibility of the parent, and it’s not appropriate at the elementary school level,” he said. “I think you are going to create fear.”

But board members said their role as educators requires that they provide information to parents who want it. Others speaking at the board meeting argued that more information is necessary.

“Today’s kids hear and see everything through the mass media,” said Laurie Soskin, a teacher and parent. “They think they know it all and they think they are indestructible.”

AIDS education programs for elementary students are not unusual in Los Angeles County, said Dr. Henry Mothner, project director of the Healthy Kids Center of the county office of education. Many districts go so far as to have AIDS education as part of the health classes during the regular school day.

“The intent of the curriculum is not to intrude upon or invade the rights of families in teaching their children values,” Mothner said, but to give information to parents who can then teach their children using their own set of values.

The Sulphur Springs program has been a year and a half in the making and includes a parents-only night to provide adults with basic information about AIDS as well as give people a chance to review materials for the subsequent parent-student presentation.

Homosexuality and specific types of sexual acts will not be mentioned in any part of the presentations, and teachers confronted by students with issues regarding sex are instructed to refer the children to their parents.

The optional program includes three parent-student presentations broken down by grades. In the presentation for kindergarten through second-grade, AIDS is described as “a disease caused by a germ” that “makes it hard for our cells to kill other germs.” It also said “children don’t have to worry about getting AIDS.”

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

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