SR school may OK contraceptives

Santa Rosa school officials this week will consider a proposal to allow condoms and birth control pills to be prescribed and dispensed on the Elsie Allen High School campus.

The Southwest Community Health Center, which operates a campus health clinic, is putting forth the proposal in response to high birth rates among teens in southwest Santa Rosa. If approved, it would be a departure from current district policy, which does not allow any distribution of birth control products.

Patricia Robles-Mitten, president of the board of directors of the Southwest Community Health Center, says the Elsie Allen clinic sees about five pregnancies a month.

Teen pregnancies in Roseland's ZIP code, which feeds Elsie Allen High School, are highest for Latinas, with a rate of 156 births per 1,000 teens. And while the rate for white teens in the area is lower, 55 births per 1,000 teens, it is still nearly four times greater than in the rest of Sonoma County.

"At some point there has to be some form of intervention," Robles-Mitten said. "High teen pregnancy is a reality. We are extremely concerned about the trend in our service area and we're concerned about the impact on adolescents."

However, some parents say it is not the school's job to provide condoms to kids.

"I don't think the new services necessarily need to be done on campus," said Lindann McPheeters, a parent who volunteers with various parent groups at Elsie Allen and the mother of a recent graduate.

"The same services are available in many different places. The purpose of the school is to provide academic education to each student," she said.

If the proposal is adopted, it would represent a major change in district policy, which prohibits the distribution of contraceptives. School board members said Monday they want to hear from parents and teachers at Wednesday's meeting before they make a decision regarding the proposal.

Board members Donna Jeye and Bill Carle, the school board's Elsie Allen liaison, met last week with the school's parent club PACK - People Actively Caring about Kids - to discuss the proposal.

"The general sense was that the vast majority of parents that PACK deals with are supportive of the proposal," Carle said.

The Southwest Community Health Center initially introduced a proposal that would allow it only to prescribe contraceptives. But the proposal was expanded to include distribution after meetings with parents brought a positive response, said Naomi Fuchs, executive director of the Southwest Community Health Center.

Fuchs said one of the biggest worries people have is that providing contraceptives will encourage teenagers to have sex. "There is no data to support this," she said.

Alberta Aguilar, a parent with two daughters at Elsie Allen and the president of the school's English Language Advisory Committee, said she worries that condoms and birth control pills will be dispensed to students without parents' being notified.

"I want to know," said Aguilar, speaking in Spanish, "so I can give her more information, so that I can educate her."

The school board meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. at the Santa Rosa City Council chambers.