For many months now I have sat back, listened and even voiced my opinion. Most of what I have done, however, is educate myself. I wanted to make certain that I was aware of all the facts science has to offer regarding the current topic of sexual education within the Scarborough school district.

I applaud members of our community for their unwavering concern for the children within this fine community. Their undying concern and pursuit of public awareness is to be applauded.

I have read articles written by parents who seem to profoundly care for their children and others within our community. They all believe they have already been educated. Many have brought politics, discrimination, rage and many other emotional disputes into the arena. I find this truly interesting and on the verge of amazing. Even I have been caught up in the emotion of this topic. Then it was time to come back down to earth. It was time to face reality. That reality is that sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) do not care about politics, they do not discriminate, they are always enraged and could care less about the physical or emotional implications of their current and future victims. Again I come to education.

The information I am presenting here is not “slanted fundamentalist jargon,” but rather solid, factual and scientifically supported evidence offered by the most reliable sources within our nation, the Centers for Disease Control and the Maine Department of Health. I encourage all of you to investigate for yourselves the significant role STDs play in the lives of the youths within our community and elsewhere.

I would first like to mention that there was a time in my past where I actually believed that encouraging abstinence while offering a condom for the “just in case” moment was ideal. I felt that teens definitely do and can get themselves in situations that would merit such resources. But with most ideals of this world those “sound facts” would turn out to be no more reliable than the idea that “you can’t get pregnant the first time.”

These are the facts people. One in four sexually active teens has an STD. Take a look around you, walking on the street, going to school, at the soccer field. That is a very large number. This is nothing to sneeze at. The growing amount of chlamydia within our community is staggering. My heart breaks for the current and future parents of teens in our very own community who while thinking they were protecting their children by “encouraging safe sex via condom usage” are now holding their teens hand in the doctor’s office hearing the news of infertility, HPV, gynecological warts, herpes, etc. Again I must say STDs do not discriminate.

There are some STDs that ARE REDUCED from condom usage (by 87 percent) … i.e., gonorrhea, and HIV. But there are so many more STDs that are transmitted by skin to skin contact, not fluid to fluid; this is where the difference lies. Condoms can reduce transmission of those diseases (such as mentioned above) that are fluid to fluid.

I think the question we really should be asking ourselves is how can we encourage our “at risk” children to make healthier choices? What is it in their home life, school life, spiritual life that has such a deep void that makes running into the arms of another so enticing? How can we recognize these beautiful people and their situations? Are there displayed symptoms? I am certain there are. I am certain if we put our minds to it we could help. Don’t you? All kids are worthy. All kids are important. All kids can make a difference in this community and others.

I am not saying our children do not need to be educated about sex. They most certainly do, but with “today’s” facts, not yesterday’s dreams. I am not saying that Denise Lockman nor the nursing staff is responsible for a faulty curriculum.

This is not an attack on them nor the school board, but all educators consistently need to revise and update the material made available to them. I do believe that our sex ed curriculum is mostly abstinence-based, but really, who are we kidding when we think that the “hot topic” for sex ed is abstinence when they get to witness a condom demonstration? I know that if this were to have happened while I was a teen we would have been talking about that demonstration before, during and after the fact. As a teen do you really think they hear anything else? Really?

The letter of “opting out” is also of a concern to me. In the past parents were really not informed specifically of just what it was their children were to be witnessing. I have hopes that this issue will be addressed. Also, to place a child in another place (i.e. the school library) while his/her peers are experiencing the “demonstration” is, in my opinion, the same as making a child drink out of a different water fountain or sit in the back of a restaurant simply because they were “different.”

The emotional implications of this type of behavior would be disturbing to say the least. I thought we as a nation, as a community, were growing from our past mistakes. This is a true shame. There has to be a better solution here, an educational alternative that brings enlightenment and encouragement, not shame or insignificance. Perhaps the best solution, rather than segregation, is that we remain “all inclusive” of each and every student and “opt out” of the demonstrations that teach how to place a condom on a bottle and instead refer to statistical facts and benefits of abstinence and the statistical facts of contraceptives without the visual stimulus.

Basically it is not “safer” to teach our children to wear condoms rather than be unprotected. Maybe it is time we as parents started taking on a bigger role in their protection: 1. with proper education of ourselves, 2. with more awareness and involvement in what our children are doing in their “free time,” 3. knowing who our children are with at all times and where; and 4. understanding the symptoms that may encourage our children to search for their solutions under someone’s sheets rather than at the table with those who love them and who could point them in the right direction with healthier choices and solutions.

Heidi Macalaster

Scarborough