Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 13, 1995 TAG: 9503130023
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The condoms are free. Students can get up to four at a time. They can come back for more if they wish - and some do.
Up to two dozens students a month - most of them boys - are requesting the condoms at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, believed to be the only high school in the state where they are distributed.
No questions are asked. There are no restrictions on the age or grade of the students.
``It is totally confidential. They do not have to give their name or have their parents' permission,'' said Mary Ann Heil, the school nurse who distributes them.
Before the students receive condoms for the first time, they are required to listen to a talk on the benefits of abstinence, Heil said. But they are given the condoms anyway if they still want them.
Heil said the main purpose of the program is to prevent the spread of AIDS - not to reduce teen-age pregnancy. If a pregnancy is prevented, that is a side benefit, she said.
The condom-distribution program at T.C. Williams, a school with 1,900 students, was begun a year ago with the backing of the School Board and the suburban community in Northern Virginia.
Heil said there have been no protests or objections to the distribution.
``It got off to a slow start last year, and there was some giggling over it, but now more students are coming in,'' she said.
There have been no studies to determine whether it's been successful, Heil said.
But ``it is making the kids more aware of the situation,'' she said. ``They think they are invincible and won't get AIDS.
``If it saves the life of one child, it is worth it. I don't see how it can hurt.''
Condoms also are passed out at some high schools in other states. The distribution has sparked protests at some schools by religious groups who say it sends the wrong message to the children.
In the Roanoke Valley, some students at Cave Spring High School also believe that the distribution of condoms would reduce the spread of AIDS.
But condoms are unlikely to be passed out soon in valley schools.
School officials do not believe that the distribution of condoms is a proper role for the schools, although many experts say condoms can reduce the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
They fear it could create controversy and turmoil, distracting students from their studies.
``We can't condone passing out condoms. Our position is that abstinence is the way to address the problem,'' said Frank Thomas, chairman of the Roanoke County School Board.
``We don't see a need for it. We try to do the best we can, but we can't try to solve everything that is best handled at home.''
Nelson Harris, chairman of the Roanoke School Board, said city school officials believe it would be ``inappropriate'' to pass out condoms.
``Needless to say, it would be controversial. The board doesn't feel this is an area we should get into,'' Harris said. ``No one has asked us to do it.''
A Cave Spring High student was disciplined recently for distributing condoms in a class after finishing a report on the bubonic plague, which killed millions in Asia and Europe in the 14th century. Several students helped prepare the report, but only one was disciplined for passing out condoms.
The students suggested that condoms could help curb the spread of AIDS and prevent it from becoming a plague.
Marsha Ellison, a member of the Roanoke School Board, said school officials must consider the feelings of the community.
``I've been appointed to represent the community. The people haven't told me that it is appropriate'' to distribute condoms, Ellison said. ``We are in the business of education.''
The AIDS Council of Western Virginia presents programs at schools in the Roanoke Valley on the dangers and prevention of the disease, but it does not distribute condoms because of the schools' ban.
``We try to remain on good terms with the schools and honor their requests,'' said Carol Webb, director of the AIDS council.
Some schools allow the council to be more free in discussing the prevention of the disease and talking about the use of condoms, Webb said.
``But we stress abstinence as the safest way to prevent the spread of the disease,'' she said.
by CNB