Thursday, June 24, 2010

Great News: Provincetown Schools Now Handing Out Condoms to Kids of Any Age

Can't say I'm surprised by this--it is Provincetown, after all--but seriously, is some nurse going to be handing condoms to a 7-year-old if he asks for one, assuming the kid even knows what one is? Are they going to have kids sizes available?
Students in Provincetown – from elementary to high school – will be able to get free condoms at school, under a policy passed earlier this month, even though their parents might object.

“We know that sexual experimentation is not limited to an age, so how does one put an age on it?” said Superintendent Beth Singer, who wrote the policy unanimously passed two weeks ago by the Cape Cod town's School Committee.

“It’s about availability; we’re not handing 'em out like M&M’s,” said committee chairman Peter Grosso.
It's about availability? So if they're out the little kiddies go on a waiting list until some are available?
The policy, which requires school nurses to supply condoms to any student who asks, was met with criticism by some parents, particularly over the possibility of preschoolers acquiring condoms. But Singer insists that if an especially young child requests a condom, the nurse will ask the student’s motive and act accordingly.

“If that were to happen, we would deal with it in a professional and appropriate way,” she said. “I don’t anticipate that this policy is going to affect youngsters. It’s there for adolescents. ... We do know from research” that children now have sex at a younger age.

Jeanmarie Kaeselau, 41, who has a fifth- and an eighth-grader in the school system, said today that she is uncomfortable with the policy, which takes effect next school year.

“That’s a little weird,” she said, adding that she would be "uncomfortable" if her fifth-grade son came home with a condom. “I’d rather have him come to me.”
Sorry to let Ms. Kaeselau in on a little secret, but your kid won't be coming to you asking for a condom.

This is just another school district deciding it know better than parents and they're overstepping the role that schools serve, or at least used to.

Plus it's a total waste of funds since if you've ever been in Provincetown you'll know condoms are available pretty much anywhere, so if any youngsters want them they can just walk into a store a buy them, no questions asked.

H/T Spitfire Murphy.

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