Condoms in charters, campus drought and teens driving teens: HS Insider this week

Every week, we bring you a roundup of students' stories from High School Insider. Students from more than 100 Southern California schools contribute to High School Insider and post their stories on latimes.com. If you – or your students – have stories to tell and would like to participate, check out this link.

Let’s talk about sex: Charter schools should make condoms available to students

"Charters were meant to be alternative schools that offered better for their students, but in the case of sexual health, the opposite is being done,” argues the editorial board of Port of Los Angeles High School’s Anchor newspaper. "POLAHS needs to follow the lead of LAUSD and school districts across the country and adopt a condom availability program to help its students. Having contraceptives available to teens is crucial to ensuring their health, and making condoms available in a safe environment has shown to be effective in preventing both pregnancies and the spread of STDs and STIs."

California’s drought hits high school campuses

As communities across California work to reduce water consumption, Robert Mack at Chadwick High School followed his school’s efforts to cut back on landscaping and install low-flow toilets. “Unfortunately, Palos Verdes Peninsula was one of the worst areas,” Robert Rule, the director of general services at Chadwick, told Mack. “So we have the most abusers and we have the highest cutback.”

The problem with teens driving other teens

New drivers in California are not permitted to drive other teenagers for their first year of driving. But Brittany Hsu at Temple City High School said she has seen that law broken — and is concerned the results can be dangerous. "I’d rather be the lame delivery girl who drives alone to the mall than drive my friends,” she writes, "because I know that I’m not experienced enough to carry their lives in the palm of my hand. Call me a coward, but I would rather not have the potential power to ruin my friend’s lives."

Interested in getting your school involved with HS Insider? Write to daniela.gerson@latimes.com for more details.

Twitter: @dhgerson