Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 8, 1993 TAG: 9310080247
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
What some - including Patrick Henry Principal Elizabeth Lee - didn't realize was that students would gain access to birth control.
That wasn't made clear at school meetings or in the consent forms parents signed granting their children access to the centers, parents say. Those heading the project - a partnership among the city school system, Carilion Health System and the city health and housing departments - told parents that birth control devices would not be handed out at the schools.
They won't be. But prescriptions for birth control pills and other contraceptives will be - a service parents say they were unaware of when when granting permission for their children to use the centers.
"Parents should have been informed in specific language that access to birth control was available," said Marsha Ellison, president of the PTA Central Council, who has a daughter at Patrick Henry. "By whom, I don't know. Either by the administration or by the health clinic officials."
Health Partnership officials say they never tried to hide the service and answered all questions parents asked about the centers. They also said the services were spelled out in the consent forms.
The consent forms list "limited prescription and dispensing of medication" and "pregnancy prevention education" but do not specifically state that prescriptions for birth control would be available.
Once parents sign, students are eligible for all services without consultation with the family. No services are available to students if parents choose not to sign.
Patrick Henry parents found out that birth control would be made available when Karin Musselman, the school's nurse practitioner, spoke to students this week about services she could provide.
That's also how Lee, the principal, found out.
Lee said questions during meetings with the nurse and with partnership officials focused on whether birth control pills or condoms would be available on campus. While she knew the nurse could write prescriptions, she never made the connection between that service and contraceptives.
But now that she knows, Lee wants to make sure that parents understand what they're signing.
"I guess the bottom line is, I want to clear up any misinformation to make this a viable program," she said. "As principal, my objective right now is to clear up any miscommunication, any misunderstanding."
Lissy Runyon, a spokeswoman for the city school system, said letters will go out to Patrick Henry parents inviting them to an open house for the center, which will begin operation next week. Parents will be given an opportunity at the open house to ask questions about health services.
Runyon said she hadn't heard any concerns from parents at Ruffner, where a center already is open. The nurse practitioner at that school, which serves mostly children ages 11 to 14, has not completed the portion of her licensing that would allow her to write prescriptions, but she is expected to do so soon.
Ruffner PTA officials Joanne McKoy, president, and Anita Lee, secretary, said they also were unaware that students would be given access to birth control.
"As far as contraceptives, that was not mentioned or ever brought up" at a recent presentation from the nurse during back-to-school night, McKoy said. "I'm going to have to look further into that."
Speaking as a parent, Lee said she had mixed feelings about giving students access to contraceptives.
Her daughter gave birth at the age of 15, she said. Now 17, she is the mother of two.
"For her, maybe, it might have been a good thing," Lee said.
Dr. Don Stern, director of the Roanoke Health Department, said the service could be important for many teen-agers. In 1991, Roanoke held the highest pregnancy rate in the state for ages 15 to 19.
By the time they finish high school, he said, 50 percent of Roanoke's students will be sexually active. One in 10 teen-age girls will be pregnant - that's 80 to 100 girls at each of the city's two high schools.
Sexually transmitted diseases, particularly gonorrhea, also are high among teen-agers, Stern said.
"The misunderstanding isn't the real issue," he said. "The issue is that our kids are sexually active, and the problem needs to be addressed."
Stern said parents were given information about services to be provided at the centers during meetings of the schools' site-based management committees.
"We discussed issues of sexuality, parental consent and many other issues," he said.
Asked whether he spoke to parents specifically about writing prescriptions for birth control, he said, "I don't have specific notes of everything that was discussed."
Stern stressed that contraceptives and other sexual issues were a small part of health services the centers would provide. And, according to a policy written by the Roanoke Adolescent Health Partnership Board, health workers will encourage adolescents to abstain from sex and to speak to their parents about all matters involving sexuality.
Contraceptives already are available to teen-agers at the city's Health Department without parental consent, Stern said.
He said 80 percent of the centers' services would address physical illnesses or emotional difficulties not related to sex. The centers are at the schools because many students don't have other access to health care.
"Kids who are sick aren't good learners," he said. "It would be our hope that by improving access to basic health care, that these students would be better prepared to learn."
The centers will provide information on drug and alcohol abuse, Stern said. Students also will have access to acne and allergy medicine, antibiotics and cold medications.
Patrick Henry parent Sheri Hartman said she hoped that focusing on the birth control issue would not hurt the centers' chances for success, because many in the community had worked long and hard to improve adolescent health care.
"A few angry parents can kill the most valuable thing you've spent years building," she said.
by CNB