December 12, 2007

DC Public Schools Lacking in HIV Education

A new report released today by the DC Appleseed Center for Law and Justice—a privately operated advocacy group—shows that DC schools are lagging behind in city efforts to combat the District’s HIV infection rate, which is currently the highest in the country (washingtonpost.com, 12/12).

“In the midst of this crisis, students should be getting information in school that will help prevent infection for the rest of their years,” the organization said in their assessment of city programs to fight HIV/AIDS. “The District’s young people are entitled to nothing less.” While the school board had pledged to increase education about the virus, the report shows that “fewer and fewer” students are receiving consistent information.

The Washington Post reports that the District received a D on Appleseed’s assessment, while most other programs have shown improvement, which includes increasing HIV screening and condom distribution, even though the latter was subject to criticism when the District’s HIV/AIDS Administration received complaints about their packaging. The administration responded to the complaints quickly, and has vowed to triple the amount of condoms distributed to 3 million by 2009.

The school board is scheduled to meet tomorrow, December 13, to discuss ways to better provide HIV/AIDS information throughout the school system.

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onemore, DC, 2007-12-15 16:09:38
I am a teacher who teaches in Montgomery County Public Schools, right outside of DC, and is HIV positive. I think this is great news, however, groups like www.pfox.org and www.mcpscurriculum.com are the opponents of such a comprehensive curriculum and will stop at nothing to try their best at spreading their lies to the public. Take a look at these two websites and you will see exactly what I mean.