Federal Funding for Abstinance Education in Jeopardy

School boards across the nation may be forced to deal with this Abstinence-only police sooner rather than later:

Click here for the full article from the Atlanta Journal and Constitution:

Excerpt:

Future of abstinence-only federal funding in limbo

New York —- With the exit of the Bush administration, critics of abstinence-only sex education will be making an aggressive push to cut off federal funding for what they consider an ineffective, sometimes harmful program.

How quickly and completely they reach their goal is uncertain, however, as conservative supporters of abstinence education lobby Congress and President-elect Barack Obama to preserve at least some of the funding, which now totals $176 million a year.

And even if federal funding is halted, some states —- such as Georgia —- are determined to keep abstinence programs going on their own, ensuring that this front in the culture wars will remain active.

Obama is considered an advocate of comprehensive sex education, which —- unlike abstinence-only curriculum —- includes advice to young people about using contraceptives if they do engage in sexual activity. However, Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor declined to elaborate on what the new president would propose in his own budget plan.

TimesDaily Article on Teen Pregnancy

Wow. Lisa Singleton-Rickman wrote an excellent article on teen pregnancy in the Shoals area. I hope her articles will serve to open the dialogue between the school board and community with regard to teen sex, birth control, STDs and pregnancy.

See the articles here and here.

Good job, Lisa.

Corporal Punishment Nightmare

One of my worst nightmares occurred at our last Board of Education meeting last Tuesday.

A young lady came to speak before the board concerning some issues she had with the principal at her school. As she was explaining her dilemma withe the school principal*, she informed the board that her child was paddled by the principal (or assistant). This kind of punishment is perfectly legal under Alabama law as noted in a previous post.

The problem with this one is that this mother claims that there was a note in the child's personal file that he shall not be paddled. If that note is in there then my school system has not only inflicted physical harm upon a small child, it has also opened itself up to litigation.

This kind of situation opens up a whole slew of uncomfortable scenarios. Now, as far as I know, the child in question at this board meeting is from a perfectly normal, no-abusive family. BUT, what if this child was a victim of some sort of physical abuse? What if the mom didn't want him paddled because he had endured years of therapy and a single paddling might set him back years?

Does the state have a right to further inflict physical harm upon a child that is used to receiving beatings? Of course not!

*Note that I am certain the administration is doing everything they can to accomodate this young woman's concerns.

Study: Teenage 'virginity pledges' are ineffective

The policy manual for the Board of Education has this to say about sex education:

AIDS and SEX EDUCATION

All students in grades 5-12 shall receive Acquired-Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) instruction and abstinence-based sex education (emphasis by me) as set forth in the Alabama Course of Study: Health Education standards. Teachers are encouraged to notify parents prior to instruction on these topics. This policy shall be printed in the Parent/Student Handbook annually."

A recent Washington Post story has this to say about that:

"Teenagers who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence and are significantly less likely to use condoms and other forms of birth control when they do, according to a study released today. The new analysis of data from a large federal survey found that more than half of youths became sexually active before marriage regardless of whether they had taken a "virginity pledge," but that the percentage who took precautions against pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases was 10 points lower for pledgers than for non-pledgers."

As I was reading this article, I immediately recalled a poignant moment recently as I was dropping my son off at his school. After he got our of the car, I spotted a typical middle school girl carrying a stack of books that she held in front of her belly. As she walked by me, I could not help but notice her protruding, pregnant belly.

I happen to believe that a radiant pregnant woman is in intensely beautiful sight under normal circumstances. But this was no normal circumstance. This was a middle school little girl who (if statistics are to be believed) is pretty much doomed to a life of poverty along with the child she is bringing into this word.

I can't help but wonder what, if anything, my school system could have done to prevent thie tragedy. Is this school system, the parents and this school board brave enough tackle this delicate issue?

Are we willing to admit that abstinence education does not work and institute programs that have been proven to work? The cynic in me thinks perhaps not. But we must try.

Powerful Motivation

This video ought to scare the hell out of you. It sure scared me. In fact, it scared me so badly that it was the straw that broke the camel's back and motivated me to run for office.

Watch it if you dare:

Corporal Punishment

Sometimes I have a thought that comes right outta nowhere and hits me like a ton of bricks. Oftentimes I will examine such a concept, kinda turn it around in my head and examine it as I would a interesting seashell. I will often toss the idea as silly or unreasonable. But the following thought has stuck in my craw and keeps begging for attention.

I was at a educational leadership conference last week listening to a speech. The speaker mentioned the topic of corporal punishment (which was completely unrelated to the subject she was speaking about). When she spoke those two words, I could not concentrate on anything else.

The thought was, "We still have corporal punishment in our schools?" Then, a split second later that morphed into, "WE ALLOW OUR EMPLOYEES TO HIT OUR KIDS!"

I've looked at this issue from as many sides as I can and I just cannot seem to get past this conclusion: My beloved school system still has a policy that allows an adult to commit violence upon a child.

I can see no possible way to justify that statement. I know our schools have discipline problems. I know there are "problem children" (I was one of those when I was in school). I also know that committing a violent act upon a child that results in physical pain is untenable.

I've spoken to people who are in a position to do something about this. It will be addressed as soon as possible.

School Dress Code

I have promised myself that, wherever possible, I will make heavy use of critical thought and evidenced-based reasoning to guide my policies while serving on the Board of Education. Doing so has caused me to rethink the matter of the dress code.

Having a well thought-out dress code puts everyone on a level playing field, decreases violence and even improve grades, right? Well, that's what I thought, too, until I studied the matter. Before I educated myself, I was a proponent of a mandatory uniform consisting of khakis and a golf shirt. I felt that our current dress code was a convoluted mish-mash of confusing rules that was the result of allowing us sometimes-irrational parents to design a dress code.

I was wrong.

I came across a study entitled "The Effects of Student Uniforms on Attendance, Behavior Problems, Substance Use, and Academic Achievement" by David L. Brunsma and Kerry A. Rockquemore of the University of Alabama and Notre Dame University.

Check it out at http://www.members.tripod.com/rockqu/uniform.htm

The abstract of this study states, "Recent discourse on public school reform has focused on mandatory uniform policies. Proponents of such reform measures emphasize the benefits of student uniforms on specific behavioral and academic outcomes. This research empirically tests the claims made by uniform advocates using 10th grade data from The National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988. Our findings indicate that student uniforms have no direct effect on substance use, behavioral problems or attendance. A negative effect of uniforms on student academic achievement was found. These findings are contrary to current discourse on student uniforms. We conclude that uniform policies may indirectly affect school environment and student outcomes by providing a visible and public symbol of commitment to school improvement and reform."

Sometimes we grown-ups are guilty of imposing rules upon our children that have no effect or, even worse, a negative effect. So, the school uniform issue will be addressed again this coming April 2009. I'll be referring to this study often during that time.