Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 7, 1995                   TAG: 9503070090
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ROANOKE COUNTY STUDENT DISCIPLINED OVER CONDOMS

The unidentified student, a female, has been assigned to in-school detention and directed to retrieve the condoms, Principal Martha Cobble said.

Cobble said Monday that the condoms were distributed last week at the Roanoke County high school after a group of students completed a report that drew analogies between the bubonic plague and the AIDS epidemic.

The students suggested that condoms could help curb the spread of AIDS and prevent it from becoming a plague.

Although several students prepared the report, apparently only one was involved in buying and passing out the condoms, Cobble said.

She had no estimate of how many were distributed.

Cobble said the student was disciplined for violating the school system's policy. Handing out the condoms was not part of the assignment, she said.

``It was an error of judgment,'' Cobble said. ``We don't have a policy of passing out condoms.''

Roanoke County prohibits the distribution of condoms at all schools. Marty Robison, executive assistant for county schools, said Monday there are no plans to change the policy.

Roanoke and other school systems in Western Virginia also prohibit distribution of condoms. T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria is believed to be the only school in the state that distributes condoms

Health practitioners say condoms help prevent the spread of the disease and recommend their use for people who are sexually active.

Condoms have been distributed at urban high schools in several states where there are high rates of teen-age pregnancies.