By:JOHN BORRELLI
The Baldwin Board of Education has approved a measure allowing in-class condom demonstrations as part of the district's HIV/AIDS curriculum.
The demonstrations will be limited to high school health classes, except where stand-alone programs such as Health Week or AIDS Awareness week warrant the demonstration.
The condom demonstrations are an addition to existing HIV/AIDS programs already in place throughout the district. AIDS education begins at the fourth grade level, where discussion is limited to "what AIDS is and how not to get it," said James T. Scannell, vice president of the Board of Education. "At that age," he said, "we just want to make sure students don't confuse AIDS the disease with teacher's aides."
He said that there is absolutely no discussion of AIDS as it relates to sexuality in the fourth-grade curriculum.
The addition of the demonstration to the curriculum comes after over a year of research by the state-appointed AIDS Advisory Committee, which released its findings to the board in April.
The committee is made up of students, teachers, clergy and administrators. Scannell said their job is to make sure "that AIDS education is comprehensive and that it's done right." The committee is advised to consider the appropriateness of the curriculum based on community standards.
Condom demonstrations will be performed only by students in their junior and senior years. Before they are allowed to perform the demonstration, they must receive two days of special training at North Shore Hospital. "The research indicated that students feel more comfortable when peers give them the information, " Scannell said.
The demonstrations will "most likely be performed using an anatomically correct model," Scannell said, "though there is still some discussion going on about this."
He said that the committee also is considering the use of a dowel or simply a finger for the condom demonstration. "An anatomically correct model," Scannell said, would be "the most scientific and technically correct way" to perform the demo.
Scannell, who works as a curriculum associate for science and health in the East Williston School District, said that students who perform demonstrations "may not counsel other students on any sexual matters. They may only educate."
The addition of the demonstration to the curriculum met with almost no resistance in the community, which has not been the case in other school districts on Long Island, or in New York City. Several years ago, New York City's Board of Education refused to allow condom demonstrations in classrooms.
"After the advisory board made its recommendations we had public meetings in April, May and June," Scannell said. "We've been very up-front about it." Scannell said that one clergy member who attended a meeting was upset that the demonstrations would be performed by students, but that he voiced concern only once.
The AIDS Advisory Counsel provides school districts with information about other districts. Regarding the demonstration, Scannell said that the research indicates that "more school districts are doing it than not."
