Life’s Silver Linings, Inc.

omprehensive health includes one’s physical, emotional, psychological, financial, recreational, medical, and academic well being.

Schools no longer offer only health education regarding nutrition, diseases, first aid, human biology, sex education, etc. School districts are now expected to also provide comprehensive screening, cumulative health records, follow-up, counseling, and referralÂ? services.

Missouri’s new school district accreditation� process through the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education� (MSIP) is outlined in the MSIP Review Procedures� -1993-94 (Revised).� Page 62 of the MSIP Review Procedure� lists items the state expects of a school district’s Support Services Department in order to be accredited.� Student Support Services is the department that oversees school nurses, counselors, and social workers.

A district’s accreditation� and funding depends on its MSIP review (inspection) and compliance� with educational standards� detailed in the Missouri School Improvement Program’s (MSIP) Review Procedures� which addresses support services and lists eleven items to be included in school health services.

The Manual for School Health Programs� was written to fully complement and comply with the Missouri School Improvement Program� that was published in January 1994 by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education� in cooperation with the Department of Health.� It reflects both Missouri’s education (SB380) and universal health care reform statutes (HB564).� The Manual states:

“A report of the Joint Committee on Health Education Terminology (Association for the Advancement of Health Education, 1990) has defined the Comprehensive School Health Program as:

…an organized set of policies, procedures and activities designed to protect and promote the health and well-beingÂ? of students and staff, which has traditionally included health services, healthful schoolÂ? environment and health education.Â? It should also include, but not be limited to, guidance and counseling, physical education, food service, social work, psychological services and employee health promotion.”Â?

The Manual for School Health (hereafter referred to as “the Manual”) includes the following items for ALL grades, K-12:

- disease preventionÂ? and control

- family life and sex education

- mental health

- tobacco, alcohol and other drugs

- nutrition

- personal health

- injury prevention

- environmental and community health

- and consumer health.

“Direct [health] services should be provided to promote the health of students through prevention, case finding, early intervention� and remediation of specific health problems, provision of first aid and triage of illness and injuries, provision of direct services for students with disabilities, provision of health counseling� and health instruction for faculty, staff and students.”

This same quote may be found in an article titled School-Based Clinics To The Rescue printed in the September, 1992 issue of The School Administrator.Â? The article was authored by Dr. Joycelyn EldersÂ? then director of the ArkansasÂ? Department of Health!

Funding sources listed include:

- “Drug Free Schools and Communities funds

- special educationÂ? funds

- incentive grants

- Chapter IIÂ? money for staff development/teacher training

- Healthy Children and Youth (formerly EPSDT) which utilizes MedicaidÂ? funding for services to eligible children

- community resources such as school and business partnerships

- grants� from foundations and other sources.”

Is the lower pregnancy rate due to promoting abstinence, or to dispensing contraceptionÂ? to minorsÂ? without parental consentÂ? and to providing abortionÂ? referrals?

The Manual’s section on suggested steps in writing a Comprehensive School Health Services Plan refers the reader to Appendix A that is titled “Assessment Tool for Schools/Comprehensive School Health.”� Among the survey� questions are:

“Component 1: School Health Instruction:

- How does your school/district implement health instruction?

- Is health a separate subject, or integratedÂ? into science, physical education, home economics, or other?

- Does your school/district require a health education course that must be successfully completed before students graduate from high school?

-Is there a mechanism in place in your school/district to evaluate the impact of health curriculum changes in knowledge, changes in attitude, changes in behavior?”

The question to ask is: what knowledge, attitudes, and behaviorsÂ? is the state wanting students to internalize?

Among those listed as possible instructors for health instruction is the “community health nurse.”

Newspaper articles tell of the trauma experienced by about 50 sixth-grade girls at J.T. Lambert Intermediate School in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania,Â? who were given genital exams.Â? Headlines and quotes from these articles include:

* “Doctor, School Officials Deny Physicals Were Inappropriate,” Pocono Record March 22, 1996, page B-1.Â? “School officials, as well as the East Stroudsburg pediatrician who performed the exams, say there was only an external examination of the genitalia-with some touching-which is within parameters set by the State Department of Health–Some parents who acknowledge that their daughters were given an external genital examÂ? said even that went too far in school–Parents who called the paper told a similar story:Â? Girls were asked to wait while partially clothed; some asked not to have their genitals examined, but were told they had to; some started to cry, and at least one was denied a call home.Â? Dr. Ramiah Vahanvaty, who performed the exams said, ‘What it involved is an external examination of the labia to see if there were any warts or vaginal lesions.Â? You can’t see these if you don’t retract the (labia)’.Â? Later, (Dr. Ramiah Vahanvaty) said ‘even a parent doesn’t have the right to say what’s appropriate for a physician to do when they’re doing an exam.Â? Parents were sent letters home saying they could be there.Â? Few chose to show.”

* “Anger Mounts On Exams Of Genitals,” Pocono Record March 26, 1996.Â? “The state Department of HealthÂ? lists an examination of genitals as part of its guidelines for the physicals, mandatedÂ? for all sixth graders who have not seen their own doctor–Several sixth-grade girls told the crowd Monday that they asked not to have their genitals examined, but were told the exam had to be done.Â? Some also said they were denied a call home.Â? Sushi Tucker, 11, broke down before Monday’s crowd while describing the fear many girls felt while waiting half-clothed for the exam.Â? Vahanvaty, a graduate of East Stroudsburg High School, said the allegations upset her because she had only been trying to ‘do a good deed for the students involved.Â? Things are being completely bent and twisted out of their intention and portrayed as improper.”

* “Genital Exams At School Irk Parents,” The WashingtonÂ? Times, April 27, 1996. “(A)bout 50 girls in all were examined, and that, while notification papers were sent home, many parents said they had not received them or didn’t realize it included a genital exam–School officials could not be reached for comment yesterday–State health officials did not return phone calls yesterday.Â? According to state health guidelines obtained by The Washington Times, public schools are required to obtain a ‘medical examination and comprehensive appraisal of the health’ of children at certain grades.Â? The guidelines, which do not specifically call for genital exams, say parents are to be notified and are urged to attend the exams.Â? An exam may be waived if the child is seen by a family physician and the school is so notified.Â? Doctors have defended the pediatrician who performed the exams.Â? The genital exam is a ‘very important part of the physical’ eight area doctors wrote in a letter, according to the March 28 edition of the Pocono Record newspaper.

During a workshop at the state “Healthy Students 2000”� Comprehensive School Health Conference, a worksheet titled “School Health Services” was distributed.� The sheet asked “What school health services does your school provide?”� Attendees were to indicate on a scale of 1 to 7 how well “established” (1 meaning “not” and 7 meaning “well”) the following were in their school district:

“Secures a health status profile on each student entering school.

Maintains a current up-to-date health record on all enrolled students.

Ensures childhood immunizationÂ? for admittance to school.

Provides for routine vision and hearing screening for all students.

Provides for mental healthÂ? evaluations, counselingÂ? and referral.

Provides for dental health screening and referral.

Provides fluoridated dental rinse, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and dental floss for students.

Ensures that all studentsÂ? have access to physical and mental health and dental care.

Provides emergency care for injury and sudden illness.

Systematically alerts teachers regarding student health issues that may require special educational considerations.

Provides assistance to all teachers in preparing individual educational programs to meet unique health needs of students.

Coordinates management of special health needs of students during school hours.

Provides speech therapy for students.

Ensures rapid health and legal response in cases of possible child abuse.

Has a system for teachers’ referral of suspected health problems.

Has a system for diagnosis, referral treatment and rehabilitation of student health problems.

Provides inserviceÂ? for teachers and staff to help them identify, refer and manage students with special health needs.

Has a mechanism established for routinely meeting with community health care providers to discuss health care for children.

Encourages abstinenceÂ? and provides family planningÂ? counselingÂ? and services for students [emphasis added.]

Has a mechanism for securing health care for families of students.

All studentsÂ? can secure routine health care services.

Funding to implement such programs has caused taxes� at both the state and federal levels to SKYROCKET.� The infrastructure for universal, government health care (socialism) is already created, and is being implemented through local schools as a vehicle to reach the grassroots community.� Family planning (population control) is a vital component of comprehensive health, as is documented in this chapter as well as the chapter titled “Are You “Nuts” If You Think It’s About Population Control?.”

Does the responsibility of teaching children about sexuality lie with the parents, teachers, community health providers, the population controllers, all of the above or who?� Should the topic be publicly taught at all?� It’s been said that schools must provide sex education� because parents don’t, or won’t do it (perhaps the population controllers HOPE the parents won’t do it, so as to provide them with a reason to access the children through schools).

Parents are the natural teachers of their children about sexuality since it cannot be separated from family life.Â? Sex is about relationships, life, and the responsibilities it creates.

It’s difficult to understand how anyone who has managed to overcome their shyness enough to accomplish that which is necessary to conceive, would be to shy to talk to their own children.� If nothing else, there are excellent and sensitive books on the issue which parents may provide their children to read in private. Parents should always let their children know that they are available to answer any questions they may have.

The most important sex education� children receive is that which is “caught” from the example they receive from parents, as well as what they see and experience in their environment.� Do mom and/or dad have a live-in lover?� Do mom and/or dad stay out all night with someone of the opposite sex other than each other?� Do mom and dad “fight fair” or participate in destructive, and unresolved conflict that results in an environment of fear and insecurity for the children?� Do mom and dad expect their children to abstain, or do they encourage the children to use contraception?� Do mom and dad accept children lovingly from God or are children perceived as a “contraceptive failure”?� What kind of language is allowed at home?� Do the parents subscribe to magazines like Playboy and Penthouse?� Do mom and dad teach their children a high standard of morals, and pray with their children for the grace to overcome impure temptations?

Professional health and education organizations who are nationally recognized, as well as the population controllers, are teaching children that sex and babies are two different things.� Teaching children that they may be sexually active� with little or no “risk” of accepting the responsibilities of family life is a disservice.� Today’s society is reaping the results of this type of education through the increased numbers of abandoned children, sexually-transmitted diseases AIDS, death, broken relationships, abortion, broken hearts, broken commitments, depression, substance abuse, and suicide.

I feel that whether schools should teach sex education� or not depends on:� whether the parents have provided permission for their child to “opt in” the class after having reviewed the content of the instruction, the age and maturity of the students, and the values� of the instructor.� Instruction of a class of mixed boys and girls, who are taught in such a way that they become sexually aroused, and who have accepted the “safe-sex” fallacy, is a recipe for disaster.

Sex education of this type desensitizes the natural modesty of young people, and makes them more vulnerable to disease, death and being “used.”� A wise and holy man, loved and respected by all the world once said, “Modesty is the guardian of chastity.”

Our elementary parochial� school had a parents’ meeting regarding the school’s sex education� program.� During this meeting I explained my personal grade school experience with sex education:� I explained how appreciative I was of the discussions Sister had with us girls after sending the boys to the playground.� I found the topic interesting, educational, and fascinating.� Then one day ALL of the 7th and 8th graders, including the boys, were put together in the cafeteria to watch a film on sex.� I remember being so mortified that all I wanted to do was disappear.� Our children’s principal responded, “these children won’t be embarrassed because they’ll be together from little up.”� The principal hadn’t comprehended my concern-it was this natural sense of modesty our children possessed which we did not want destroyed. We transferred our children into the local public elementary school when we learned that the sex education program considered by our parochial school was authored by two dissenters from the church’s teachings regarding sexuality and human life, We felt that our children were “safer” in an environment where we could teach our children to expect and recognize error.� The formation of our children’s faith was too precious to risk putting them into a parochial school that was less than meticulous about the faithfulness of its sex education curriculum to the teachings of the Church.

To no surprise, the elementary public school was also doing sex education, but at least it wasn’t as explicit.� As parents, we preferred, and felt it was important that our children receive this instruction from us before hearing it from the teacher.� Therefore, on the previous day before the class, I dutifully sat our second and fourth graders on the sofa and matter-of-factly explained to them the facts of life.

Up to this time, I believed our child’s parochial� school principal who told me that I had been embarrassed when my eighth-grade class received this information in mixed company simply because I had been “sheltered.”� I went along with the mindless thinking that giving this information to our very young children wouldn’t be any “big deal” since facts are facts, facts never hurt anyone (in fact it could protect them from school yard “yarns”), and since I was comfortable talking to our children about sex, they would be comfortable with it too.� I believed all the reasons (excuses) the “sexperts” give.� The result is forever painfully emblazoned into my memory.� I still clearly remember the incident that took place in our kitchen as if it happened yesterday.� Our (then) fourth grader taught me how important it is not to desensitize children by robbing them of their innocence and modesty.

After breakfast the following morning, as our fourth grader was kneeling on the kitchen floor with his lunch box beside him as he curled over his shoes, his little fingers struggling to tie the laces in time to catch the bus, I asked him a question.� I felt it was necessary to make sure he had “mastered” the “outcome” of the previous day’s lesson on sex.� When I asked him to explain to me what intercourse was, he did not answer.� I asked again.� He refused to answer.� I asked him again. He replied, “Don’t make me tell you, mom.”� I then explained to him that if he couldn’t answer me, I had to assume he didn’t know.� As he worked on tying those shoe laces, he finally looked up at me with tears streaming from his big, brown, innocent eyes and said, “Please, mommy, don’t make me tell you, mommy.”

Our child’s innocent and tearful plea hit me like a ton of bricks. Every fiber within me ached at the reality of what had been done.� To attain the desired “outcome” meant invading and undermining our child’s sense of modesty to the point of tears.� He didn’t know it, but as he boarded the school bus that day, I cried too.� What had happened couldn’t be undone. I felt he had been abused.

As a parent I resented being made to feel “rushed” to teach our children about this sensitive issue before they were emotionally mature enough for it.� We were rushed to teach our children about an issue they weren’t ready for in order that we as parents could teach it to them before they would learn it in their “health/family life/sex education” class!

It’s demeaning to parents to be told that since “they” (when in reality it is only “some”) don’t teach their children about sex, it is “necessary” to academically institutionalize it from preschool-12th grade.� Even if the curriculum is perfect, there is no guarantee that value-laden questions will be answered in school the way they would be answered in each child’s home.

It is only natural that as one’s modesty becomes increasingly eroded through desensitization, they are jettisoned down the “time line” of sexual behavior� toward sexual intercourse.

In addition to the biology of the male and female reproductive system, should sex educationÂ? include decision-making?Â? If so, which and whose valuesÂ? will be infused in the instruction?Â? The only way to make sure that the values of the family are taught is for the parents to educate their own children in this subject.Â? Parents who choose to delegate this responsibility to the school have an obligation to be informed about, and involved in the content and direction of the sex education curriculum provided by the school. This includes knowing about any guest speakers and handouts.

Is your school’s sex education� class teaching children where in the community they may go for “help” (such as the County Health Department’s Teen Clinic� which distributes contraceptives� to minors� without parental consent), or are children referred to their parents or a guardian when such questions arise?