SEX, DRUGS AND WHAT TO

Medford School District Proposes To Update Its Health Curriculum For
Grades Seven Through 12

As a mom, Amy Tiger worries whether her eighth-grade daughter is
ready to hear about condoms and other forms of birth control at
school, but as principal at McLoughlin Middle School, she knows
students are experimenting with drugs and sexual activity.

In the principal's office Tiger has had to suspend a student for
selling prescription medication at school and guide a conversation
between a shocked mother and a girl whose behavior problems stemmed
from her budding bisexuality.

That's why Tiger led the charge to update the Medford School
District's health curriculum for grades seven through 12, including
the hot-button issues of sex education and drug-use prevention.

The district received a $14,000 grant from Healthy Kids Learn Better,
a partnership between the state's education and health and human
services departments, to evaluate and develop a health curriculum.
For more than a year, Tiger and a committee of teachers have worked
to make sure what's taught in Medford's classrooms matches state law,
new state curriculum standards adopted in February, needs of parents
and the behavior of students.

Next month, the committee will introduce its proposed curriculum to
the school board, opening up a two-week public review period. With
new state standards in place and a deadline of spring 2008 for
schools to align with those standards, other districts likely won't
be far behind.

Medford's proposal calls for the district to abandon textbooks it
bought in 1991 to take up teaching guides and educational magazines
supplemented by state training for teachers.

"Health is one of those areas that is always changing," Tiger said.
"That's why the state recommends not buying a text, because it will
be outdated so soon."

The new state standards call for schools to teach kids how to make
healthy decisions relating to alcohol, tobacco, drugs, disease
control and prevention, sexuality, nutrition, physical activity,
injury prevention, and violence and suicide prevention.

State law already required comprehensive sex education that includes
information about contraceptives, AIDS/HIV prevention information and
prevention education related to alcohol, drugs and tobacco use.

Most of that information was taught in Medford schools, but in a
scattered fashion, officials said.

The proposed curriculum strives to deliver age-appropriate lessons
that build from year to year and ensure that students learn to deal
with situations in the classroom before they run into them in real
life, officials said. It offers a skills-based approach that will
teach kids how to find information and make decisions for themselves,
techniques teachers said work better than dry lectures.

Students take a quarter-long health class in seventh and eighth
grades and a semester as sophomores. Health information is included
in a freshman life skills class and in family health classes for
juniors and seniors.

Perhaps the biggest change is an introduction to contraception in
eighth grade rather than 10th grade.

"Research has shown behaviors need to be addressed two years before
they might happen," Tiger said.

The most recent annual Oregon Healthy Teens survey done by the state
health department showed that 45.6 percent of high school juniors in
Medford have had sexual intercourse; 13 percent of eighth-graders have had sex.

"If we want to serve all kids, there are kids who need this
information," Tiger said.

For those worried that promoting abstinence and telling kids about
contraception is a mixed message, she noted that the state requires a
comprehensive program with information about contraceptives.

"We can be abstinence-based, but not to the exclusion of other
things," Tiger said.

Board member Cynthia Wright said she had conversations with friends
who were concerned about the possible changes in the health
curriculum until one family friend, a doctor, said he saw the daily
consequences of people not having good information about sex and drugs.

"He said he was glad his kids would get the message from parents and
teachers," Wright recounted.

"One of the fears is that we will supplant parents and tell kids
something different than the parents' message," Tiger said. "The goal
is to be partners with parents."

The district also wants to develop a mechanism for addressing the
many community groups that want to offer presentations to kids about
drinking, drugs, health choices, self-esteem and other topics. Tiger
and Curriculum Director Todd Bloomquist would like to see some sort
of district review committee that could decide which programs are
effective and appropriate.

"Scare tactics and shock value don't work because (students) don't
remember that when they are in a tough situation," Bloomquist said.

Therefore, the curriculum would focus on refusal skills, which
research has shown can help kids avoid myriad troubles.

Eighth-grade health classes also will give kids an overview of
problem drugs, with more specific details provided in 10th grade.
Methamphetamine, the focus of a countywide task force, will be
included in those sections, along with other drugs.

The state healthy teen survey showed 76.5 percent of juniors had
tried alcohol and 47.5 percent had tried marijuana. Among
eighth-graders, 51.1 percent had tried alcohol and 19.1 percent had
tried marijuana. Use of meth, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and
hallucinogens in the past 30 days among both groups was rare.

"We want to teach the tools to avoid drugs, no matter what the drug
of the week is," Bloomquist said.

Medford health teachers are working with others from around the
county to help develop a program on meth. When completed, that
information will be evaluated just as any other addition to the
district's curriculum would be, Tiger said.

Maggie Sullivan, education program coordinator for Planned Parenthood
in Jackson County, said she likes the work Medford schools are doing
on their curriculum and policies on evaluating guest educational
programs, such as the Planned Parenthood-sponsored Teen Theater
troupe that uses drama to explore self-esteem, peer pressure, healthy
choices and other tough aspects of growing up. She said the troupe is
creating a preview performance for parents and teachers that could
help the district evaluate the program.

Sullivan praised the district's research-based approach to a
curriculum area that can evoke strong emotion.

"They are being careful and deliberate to find programs that have
been evaluated for efficacy," she said. "They are looking at what works."

Jane Stevenson, Jackson County Public Health's community health
education coordinator, works with all school districts in the county.
She said Medford is ahead of the game, thanks to its work with the
Healthy Kids Learn Better grant that she helped them land. She also
was on the team with health teachers to study the district's needs
and programs that might meet them.

"They got to see many curriculums and the research to see if they
were effective," she said. "It was a very thorough evaluation."

Stevenson noted that tackling a health curriculum, especially the
parts dealing with sexuality, can be difficult for districts.

"People don't want to deal with adversarial issues," she said. "A
vocal minority can derail what is needed."

State standards can help push districts to deal with a potentially
emotionally charged topic, as well as ensure all kids get the
information they need, she said.

Eagle Point has started re-evaluating its program, Stevenson said.
Phoenix-Talent's comprehensive program likely will need few changes, she said.

"This is a community issue," Medford Superintendent Phil Long said.
"I think we will have a model health program that meets state
standards and is specific to Medford."

[Sidebar]

New Materials Proposed

The following are some of the new materials proposed for the Medford
School District's new health curriculum for grades seven through 12:

"Protecting Oneself and Others" is a high school program designed to
alert students to the health consequences of using tobacco, alcohol,
marijuana and other drugs. It promotes risk-assessment and
decision-making skills and gives kids opportunities to practice
resisting drugs. It's produced by Education Development Center, a
Pennsylvania nonprofit. On the Web, see
(http://main.edc.org)http://main.edc.org.

"Making Proud Choices" is a program for eighth-graders designed to
provide them with knowledge, confidence and skills necessary to
reduce their risk of sexually transmitted diseases, HIV and pregnancy
by abstaining from sex or using condoms if they choose to have sex.
It's published by ETR Associates, a nonprofit based in Scotts Valley,
Calif. See (http://pub.etr.org)http://pub.etr.org.

"Safer Choices" is a high school program designed to prevent HIV,
other sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. It's published by
ETR Associates.

"Current Health" is a monthly magazine for grades seven through 12
published by Weekly Reader Corp. It offers health news and
information about nutrition, fitness, personal health and the harmful
effects of drugs. It aligns with state health curriculum and National
Health Education standards. See
(http://www.weeklyreader.com/teens/current_health).