Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 15, 1990 TAG: 9003152050
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BRATTLEBORO, VT. LENGTH: Medium
But opponents say they have a better answer to safe sex for teen-agers: abstinence.
"Condoms are not the answer," Brattleboro Union High School sophomore Wendy Veenema told a public hearing Tuesday before a school advisory board attended by about 70 people.
The advisory board agreed, voting 5-2 to urge the five-town district's school board to kill the proposal.
If the school board rejects the advisory panel's recommendation and approves condom vending machines, Brattleboro Union would become the first high school in Vermont to adopt such a policy, officials said.
A final decision is expected before the school year ends in June.
Opponents, most of them adults, said Tuesday that the school should stress abstinence among students.
But those on the other side of the issue said installing the machines would be an acknowledgement of reality.
"There's always more sexually active teens than people realize," said high school senior Dawn Prouty. "They will do it whether we make it easy for them or not."
"I don't think it's a morality issue," said senior Kirin Hammer. "I think it's a reality issue."
The pregnancy rate at Brattleboro Union has climbed sharply this year. School nurse Jean Mabee said she knew of about 15 pregnancies at the 1,000-student school this year, up from eight or nine last year.
In Windham County, where Brattleboro is the largest town with a population of about 12,000, about one in 14 females ages 15-19 becomes pregnant, said health educator Catriona McHardy of the area's Planned Parenthood chapter.
That compares with one in 21 Vermont females in the same age group and one in 10 nationwide, McHardy said.
"There is a large amount of pregnancy in school and something needs to be done about it," said Veenema, the Brattleboro sophomore.
Health education teacher Stephen Holmes said a confidential survey he gives ninth-graders entering his class shows that more than 50 percent have had sex.
For more than 80 percent of those students, their first sexual experience was spontaneous, and more than 90 percent said they didn't use contraceptives in their first encounter.
Holmes and others argued that easy availability of condoms should be considered a public health measure.
AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases also figured in the debate.
JoEllen Falk, a health education specialist with the state Department of Education, said department policy required her to remain neutral about local decisions on strategies for AIDS prevention.
by CNB