Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 30, 1993 TAG: 9303300324
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"They're afraid it will work," said Mike Long, who markets teaching materials for "Project Respect," an abstinence-based curriculum used in more than 2,000 schools nationwide. "It will put others out of business."
While many of the roughly 120 people who turned out to hear Long's two-hour presentation nodded and mumbled in agreement, not everyone was sold.
"Do you honestly believe that?" asked one man from the back of the room, who identified himself only as a Roanoke County parent.
"Believe it, buddy," said Long.
Long spoke at the invitation of a group of Roanoke County parents who want the entire "Project Respect" curriculum adopted by the county school system. Parts of the program are now taught in county schools.
But students don't get enough practice in how to say no to premarital sex, said Karen Scott, a parent who helped raise Long's $675 speaking fee.
She and others want the program adopted because it teaches skills teens can use to defend themselves from peer pressure. They collected more than 80 signatures at the door from parents who want the county to adopt a stronger abstinence curriculum.
They will, however, settle for less than the entire "Project Respect" program, said Peg Ackley, a member of the Cave Spring Junior High School Parent-Teacher Association executive board.
There are parts of the program that even she objects to, she said.
"Some people are much more for the whole package than other people are," Ackley said.
The program has become controversial - and faces court challenges in several states - because it also teaches the spiritual aspects of sexual relationships. A state district judge in Louisiana recently banned the texts for containing inaccurate information and violating the laws that separate church and state.
Long called the Louisiana decision "an absolute joke."
"We're not teaching religion, we're teaching good health," he said, adding that the program teaches students to follow their own spiritual and moral beliefs and does not espouse one religion.
Long told those at the Roanoke County Administration Building that while all schools teach abstinence, few teach it properly.
Most sexual education courses emphasize a "defeatist" attitude by spending the bulk of class time showing students how to properly use contraceptives, he said. Instead, they should focus on building self-esteem and showing teens that they have the power to control sexual urges.
The schools don't spend all of their time teaching about contraception, objected Kathryn Haynie, executive director of Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge.
Calling Long's presentation "slick" and "seductive," she disputed his assertion that information about birth control encouraged teen-agers to have sex.
"We believe that information is empowering," she said.
Actually, both sides in this argument believe close to the same thing, said Roanoke County parent Dennis Causey during a brief question-and-answer period at the end of the evening.
Both want to reduce teen pregnancy and promote "safer sex," he said.
"We should be coming together," said Causey. "We're both after the same goal."
by CNB