NORTH VAN. STUDENTS TO BE EXCLUDED FROM SURVEY ABOUT SEX, DRUGS

School trustees refuse permission for a firm to distribute questions on
physical and mental health.

North Vancouver students will not participate in an adolescent health
survey later this year, partly because of its controversial questions about
sex, drugs and body image, school trustees have decided.

By a 4-3 vote earlier this week, North Vancouver board refused a request
from the McCreary Centre Society, a private research firm based in Burnaby,
for permission to distribute in some North Vancouver schools a survey on
physical and mental health.

Chairwoman Pat Heal said a majority of trustees felt the questions about
sexual behavior and the use of illicit drugs, alcohol and tobacco might
encourage students to participate in such activities.

``They felt children would get ideas from looking at the questions and
might think `maybe I should be doing that because they are asking if I have
ever done it.' ''

Other trustees worried about questions about body image, including one that
inquires whether the student thinks of himself as fat.

``Some trustees felt that some of the questions would really be negative
for children who are already having problems with self-esteem.''

The dissenters, including Heal, agreed with the McCreary centre when it
said the results of a province-wide survey could help communities plan
programs and services that would effectively address the needs of young
people.

The North Vancouver school district refused to participate in McCreary's
only other survey of adolescent health, conducted in 1992.

But Heal noted that few of today's trustees were on the board at that time.

Aileen Murphy, McCreary's project coordinator, said the centre has just
begun to get responses from school districts and has only heard from
one-quarter of them so far.

But a majority of those that have responded are in favor of the survey.

In 1992, 48 of 75 school districts allowed the survey to be distributed in
their schools.

West Vancouver school trustees have not yet decided if their students will
participate. The survey is one of several subjects to be discussed Feb. 10
at a public meeting.

The McCreary centre rejects the suggestion that asking questions about sex
and drug use might encourage students to experiment.

``In fact, there is strong evidence that young people who have
opportunities to learn, think about and discuss such issues are more likely
to act in ways to protect their health,'' according to a McCreary
publication.

The McCreary centre intends to survey 30,000 students from school districts
across the province.

Individual schools will be selected from participating districts after
every district has had an opportunity to indicate whether it wants to
participate. The survey will be conducted in the classroom by a public
health nurse or other trained administrator.

Participation is voluntary, and parents of students in the schools selected
will have a chance to view the questions in advance.