Megan McIlroy, The Examiner
2006-11-22 08:00:00.0
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Carroll County -

The Carroll County Health Department must prove that middle schoolers are engaging in sex acts before some School Board members would permit instruction on contraception and sexually transmitted diseases, the members said.

“We need to see some information regarding the veracity of some of the statements being made,” said School Board Member Thomas Hiltz, one of three board members who voted in March against adding these topics to the eighth-grade sexual education curriculum.

The Health Department has approached the school system about surveying students about their sexual activity, but Superintendent Charles Ecker refused, said Cindy Marucci-Bosley, women’s health manager for the Carroll County Family Planning Clinic in Westminster.

Ecker determined the survey, which would gauge the need for expanded sexual health services, was not appropriate, said Carey Gaddis, spokeswoman for the superintendent.

However, collecting exact figures on how many students are having sex and how frequently they are doing it would be nearly impossible, Marucci-Bosley said.

Evidence that can be provided is information on sexually transmitted disease rates, teen birth and pregnancy rates and emergency contraception, she said.

In reference to alleged sex parties, most of the evidence would be anecdotal, she said.

Reports by The Examiner about middle-schoolers engaging in sex parties have galvanized support for the an expanded sexual education curriculum in middle schools. The School Board’s Family Life and Human Sexuality Committee plans to push for the revised curriculum.