Time for STD testing in the high schools?
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Apparently it is in Washington, D.C. where a' program conducted last year at eight high schools found that 13 percent of about 3,000 students tested positive for an STD, mostly gonorrhea or chlamydia, according to the D.C. Department of Health.' According to this report, "The D.C. schools first offered the tests two years ago at two charter schools.[Hmm. CHARTER, not public] Health department workers presented a lecture on STDs to groups of 20 to 30 students in grades 9 through 12; none of the students was younger than 15. After the lecture, students were invited to submit urine samples for chlamydia and gonorrhea testing at a health department laboratory." "Of 987 students who attended the lectures, 68 percent submitted urine specimens, according to a report. Of those students, 9 percent tested positive for at least one STD. "Test results were provided confidentially by telephone, and the city paid for treatment at the school or an STD clinic. Students who decided to be treated by a family physician were responsible for their own payments. Students were counseled about STDs and HIV prevention, were given notification cards to inform partners of the positive diagnosis and were encouraged to share the results with their parents. "In the past school year, the program was modified and expanded to eight high schools: Ballou, Banneker, Anacostia and Dunbar high schools, Moore Academy and Choice Academy, and two charter schools, Rock Creek Academy and High Road Academy. In those schools, a 45-minute lecture was given, followed by a question-and-answer period, officials said. "Chad Ferguson, deputy chief of youth engagement for the D.C. schools, said the tests are administered by taking groups of 15 to 20 students at a time to the restroom area. The students are given paper bags containing urine collection cups and enter bathroom stalls. Once they get in the stalls, they can choose whether or not to provide urine samples. All the students return the paper bags, so other students do not necessarily know who did or did not provide a sample. Students provide a password and then call in a week later to get their result and treatment, if necessary. "........... "School systems in New York, Chicago, New Orleans and Baltimore, among others, either perform screening for sexually transmitted diseases or are preparing to begin pilot programs. In Baltimore, no parental consent is required. In New York, parents can elect to not have their child tested. In New Orleans, a parent must give consent for a child to take the test. "We have Third World statistics in terms of our HIV issues, and from the HIV perspective, we do need to find a way to identify students so that we can help them," said William Lockridge, a member of the State Board of Education representing Ward 8."
Source for the rest of the story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/04/AR2009080403402_2.html?hpid=moreheadlines&sid=ST2009080403578 “If you treat an individual as he is, he will stay as he is; but if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 
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This makes me very sad.
PresidentJust a parent who happens to be a member of ACSC Board of Trustees. At all times I speak only for myself as an individual. I cannot, nor will I attempt to, speak for any other member of the board or administration. No member of the ACSC Board of Trustees has any authority as an individual, the authority rests in the Board as a whole only. Sometimes I forget myself and speak as a parent only, a parent who loves and protects and is very bias toward my children.I understand. But the rhetorical question is: Is ignoring the problem a responsible answer?
It is also important to note that this isn't limited to public schools. It includes charters (presumably of all types) too. I know local people whose children, like Bristol Palin, were raised within very strict Christian moral codes and still managed to get themselves pregnant out-of-wedlock. Like Bristol herself said, simply relying on abstinence isn't realistic. But where are the boundaries then?
“If you treat an individual as he is, he will stay as he is; but if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I do not have the answers, but this is why I am on my knees for my children every night.
PresidentJust a parent who happens to be a member of ACSC Board of Trustees. At all times I speak only for myself as an individual. I cannot, nor will I attempt to, speak for any other member of the board or administration. No member of the ACSC Board of Trustees has any authority as an individual, the authority rests in the Board as a whole only. Sometimes I forget myself and speak as a parent only, a parent who loves and protects and is very bias toward my children....and morning and afternoon and every possible moment in between....
PresidentJust a parent who happens to be a member of ACSC Board of Trustees. At all times I speak only for myself as an individual. I cannot, nor will I attempt to, speak for any other member of the board or administration. No member of the ACSC Board of Trustees has any authority as an individual, the authority rests in the Board as a whole only. Sometimes I forget myself and speak as a parent only, a parent who loves and protects and is very bias toward my children.That's good.
I have the suspicion that God would like us to put some practical effort into this situation, too. Is it okay to turn away and pretend it doesn't exist?
Is it okay to allow these infected children to infect others because we won't offer them treatment?
Would we offer to a third-world country something we wouldn't offer to our own children? In this case, I think so. How sad is that?
“If you treat an individual as he is, he will stay as he is; but if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
i know if i had a child in school and they offered testing, my kid would be one of first in line. kids don't always tell truth when they start having sex.
pic is my son and his daughter and son (my grand baby's )
I'd say that they RARELY tell the truth when they start having sex.
“If you treat an individual as he is, he will stay as he is; but if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Free STD testing & treatment has been availible at free clinics for decades, so I am not sure how they've been denied anything.
Anyway, I do not send my child to school to get medical testing or treatment, I send her there to get an education, if she needs medical testing or treatment, that's what our family doctor is for.
Richard, I don't know much about those free clinics...do they treat minors without parental consent?
The article mentioned parental involvement, whether permissions were given or not. Unless they were 18, I doubt any of these students were tested without parental permission. I happen to feel as you do, that if I had kids in the system I'd prefer they'd go to a family physician IF they go at all.
That said, often parents don't know their children are sexually active. Kids make stupid mistakes, even good kids. So if the child has messed up, and there is a serious disease potential, would a responsible and loving parent want their child to have access to a cure before it does permanent damage? I'd like to hope so.
But would a child, knowing how severely disappointed their parent would be in them and fearing the loss of that parent's love, fess up to having sex at the age of 15 or 16 or 17 or even 18? I think there's a great chance they wouldn't have the courage (especially girls), and I think there's a great chance they wouldn't have the knowledge of the diseases and their damage potential and wouldn't be mature enough to make an appropriate decision about it.
Plus, if the entire peer group looks like it's getting tested ("The students are given paper bags containing urine collection cups and enter bathroom stalls. Once they get in the stalls, they can choose whether or not to provide urine samples. All the students return the paper bags, so other students do not necessarily know who did or did not provide a sample.") then they are not singled out, made to feel like an outcast. It is an opportunity to intervene before things get too far gone.
I view it as an opportunity to support the parent. I'd hope my kid would know better and I'd hope they wouldn't fall prey to peer pressure...but it happens. IF it happened, I'd want two things as a parent who'd want to make a positive difference in the life of their child: (1) I'd want that child to have medical attention to get rid of that STD, and (2) I'd want an opportunity to provide an antidote to the peer pressure s/he previously succumbed to. If I don't know they succumbed, I won't know there's a problem, so how can I fix it?
That's where I'm coming from.
Even so, this isn't likely to happen in the near future due to economic problems, I bet.
“If you treat an individual as he is, he will stay as he is; but if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I was a little shocked when my barely 16 year old daughter was pregnant. Not so much at the fact that she was pregnant but the laws involved in what a minor is allowed to decide on.
Here is a link that may further confuse you.
http://www.aishealth.com/Compliance/Hipaa/RPP_Issues_Disclosure_Rights_Minors.html
I was allowed only to sign and make the decisions on my daughters health. And it seemed like some of that was restricted.
Smells like bubble gum to me it does!
Don't kick the dog! You will get bit.