[Vision2020] Going Just a Bit Too Far, Maybe

[Tom Hansen]

School probably won't give out free condoms to first graders unless, after
questioning, the school nurse decides he or she should have one.

Courtesy of the Boston Globe at:

http://tinyurl.com/Provincetown-Condoms

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Condoms, secrecy for Provincetown pupils
Parents, official criticize policy

By Jack Nicas, Globe Correspondent  |  June 24, 2010

Students in Provincetown — from elementary school to high school — will be
able to get free condoms at school under a recently approved policy that
takes effect this fall. The rule also requires school officials to keep
student requests secret, and ignore parents’ objections.

“The intent is to protect kids,’’ said School Superintendent Meredith
Singer, who wrote the policy that the Cape Cod town’s School Committee
unanimously passed two weeks ago. “We know that sexual experimentation is
not limited to an age, so how does one put an age on it?’’

“It’s about availability,’’ said committee chairman Peter Rosso. “We’re
not handing ’em out like M&M’s.’’

The policy, which requires school nurses to supply condoms to any student
who asks, drew criticism yesterday from some parents, a family-advocacy
group, and even the town manager, who expressed alarm that children would
be able to acquire condoms beginning next school year.

But Singer assured critics that, despite the strict wording of the policy,
its practical application will be more flexible, and that not every child
who requests a condom will necessarily get one. For example, if a student
in the early elementary school grades requests a condom, the nurse will
ask the student a series of questions and almost certainly deny them, she
said.

“If that were to happen, we would deal with it in a professional and
appropriate way,’’ she said. “I don’t anticipate that this policy is going
to affect youngsters. It’s there for adolescents.’’

Several high schools in the state make condoms available to students.
While complete data were unavailable yesterday, Provincetown’s policy to
make them available with no age restriction, and declare parents’
objections irrelevant, seemed to set it apart.

Marie Kaselau, 37, who has a fifth- and an eighth-grader in the school
system, said she would be uncomfortable with her younger son coming home
with school-issued condoms.

“That’s a little weird,’’ she said. “I’d rather have him come to me.’’

But Kaselau will not have a say. The policy, first reported in the
Provincetown Banner, keeps parents from knowing if their children receive
condoms, and mandates that school officials can choose to supply them even
if parents object.

Chris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, blasted the
policy as an “absolute push to promote sexual promiscuity.’’

“This is the theater of the absurd to hand condoms to first-graders who
don’t even know what their purpose possibly could be, who can’t even spell
sex,’’ he said. “And it’s a gross violation of parents’ rights.’’

Town Manager Sharon Linn said she would prefer a system that requires
parental consent until children reach a certain age.

“I think the parents should be responsible for [their children], and know
what their children are doing,’’ Lynn said in an interview.

But Jeri Couture, chairwoman of the Board of Selectmen, said that when it
comes to sex, safety is paramount.

“I don’t know, you don’t want to take away a parent’s right to decide
what’s right for their child,’’ she said. “But it’s unrealistic to think
that a parent saying no to condoms means the child’s going to say no to
sex. They’re still going to have sex; they’re just not going to have a
condom.’’

The policy began this spring when the school district’s Wellness
Committee, an independent board of residents, recommended making condoms
available at school. The School Committee then enlisted Singer, the
superintendent, to write a proposal.

At a public, televised meeting on June 8, the five-member School Committee
voted 4 to 0 to approve Singer’s plan. (One member was absent.) “No one
came to comment,’’ Singer said, noting the issue had been on the agenda
for weeks.

Rosso said one member proposed limiting the policy to the high school,
which serves seventh- to 12th-grade students, but he fought against it.

“I was the one who said, ‘Well, you never know,’ ’’ said the 64-year-old
father whose two children graduated from Provincetown High School. “It’s
very possible that a fifth- or sixth-grader would be getting involved in
sexual activity.’’

Singer said she wanted the policy to apply to the Veterans Memorial
Elementary School so that fifth- and sixth-graders could get condoms.
There were 17 students in those grades this year, according to state data;
there were 69 students in preschool through fourth grade at Veterans.

The policy was approved as the school system contends with a dramatic drop
in enrollment — down from 500 students in 1980 to 152 this year. The
School Committee recently announced that the high school will close in
2013. The school had 66 students this year; 36 are enrolled for this fall.

Yesterday, the town leaders were already speaking for and against the
condom rule.

Linn, the town manager, said she received angry calls and e-mails
yesterday not only from local residents but from as far away as
California.

“I do believe there should be an age limit,’’ she said. “I don’t know what
that age limit should be, but I would think that something like at least
early teenage years would be appropriate.’’

But Grasso said any student who wants a condom, preschoolers and up,
should get one.

“As the grades get lower, the possibility gets lower,’’ he said, “but
we’re not going to pick an age.’’

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Seeya at Farmers Market, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Unknown