School Board Flunks Student’s Project Othello Girl’s Aids Survey Contains Questions About Sex Lives Of Classmates
The school board is refusing to let Sarah Peters pass out an AIDS survey to about 200 of her high school classmates.
Peters, 16, wanted to learn if students in Othello are engaging in behavior that could lead to AIDS.
The survey fulfills a graduation requirement for a project that must be completed by the end of the school year.
“The community and the kids at school need to be educated,” Peters told the school board Tuesday evening. “Without this survey, I don’t have a project.”
“It’s a moral issue,” board member Steve McCabe told the high school junior. “Do it in church or from your home, but not at school.”
The first four questions on Peters’ survey, which would be anonymous and voluntary for juniors and seniors to fill out, ask what they think of the school’s AIDS education curriculum.
“We don’t have a problem with questions one through four on your survey,” school board chairman Mike McCourtie said.
But other questions ask “Have you ever had sex?” “What was the age of your first sexual encounter?” “Was it protected or unprotected?” “Have you had more than one partner?” “Were alcohol or drugs involved?”
“Those are the questions that are going to make my phone ring,” Vice Chairman Shannon McKay said. “I don’t think these types of questions need to be handed out at school.”
Superintendent Dennis Carter said the survey would infuriate many parents.
But Peters spent nearly an hour trying to persuade the five board members and superintendent to let her pass out her questionnaire.
The board members stood their ground, and then moved onto other business. “I’m not giving up,” Peters said. “I have other school districts that have offered to let me finish the project at their schools.
“Our community needs to open up to the outside world. There are kids in other schools with AIDS. One day, it’s going to happen here,” she said.