Thursday, January 10, 2008
Sixth-graders can be asked about drugs but not sex
Shanna Flowers
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If Roanoke County sixth-graders are having sex, Virginia doesn't want to know.
Next month, county students will take the Youth Risk Behavior Survey for the first time since the General Assembly approved an ill-conceived "don't ask, don't tell" policy as part of a mandate governing school surveys.
It bans school divisions statewide that administer surveys from asking anyone younger than the seventh grade about sexual activity. The systems can continue to put the questions to seventh- though 12th-graders.
It's curious that the surveys can ask seventh- and eighth-graders about sexual activity but exclude sixth-graders, who are middle-schoolers, too.
Under the state mandate, schools can ask sixth-graders all they want about booze and drugs. Just don't go there about sex.
Some advocates consider that silly.
"As adults and parents, we need to take our heads out of the sand," said Nancy Hans, coordinator of the Roanoke County Prevention Council. The council will work with school officials, who will administer the county's survey Feb. 12 and 13.
Because the state mandate took effect 18 months ago, other school systems -- including Roanoke's -- already have conducted a survey under the new rule. This is the first time since the mandate that the survey has rolled around again for Roanoke County. Every two years since 2002, students there have taken a survey developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hans said.
Older children aren't asked only about sexual activity. They're queried on bullying, suicide, substance abuse and smoking.
Prevention groups say the answers are valuable information that helps the community establish or refine programs that address important issues affecting young people.
I know you don't want to hear this: As hard as it is to accept, some middle-school kids -- or younger -- are having sex.
That's why a school in Maine decided last fall to start dispensing birth control pills and patches to girls as young as 11. Sixth-graders are about 11.
Finding out what's on the minds of young people and providing outlets to help them with some of those issues helps them be informed in their decision-making.
Del. Tim Hugo, R-Fairfax County, sponsored the law governing school surveys a few years back after parents came to him with concerns about a Fairfax County survey that asked about sex. It went into effect July 2006.
I'm not dismissing parents' worries, but they were inflated. Even before Hugo's bill passed, protections were in place for parents and students.
Now, as then, the surveys are anonymous. Parents can refuse to allow their children to participate. And school divisions are free to opt out of asking any students about sexual activity. Salem has decided to do that.
Though sixth-graders are only a year younger than the seventh-graders whom the state allows to answer sex questions, the one year is critical, Hans said.
"If you want teen pregnancy to go down ... you talk earlier and you talk often," she said.
She also underscored the importance of parents' talking to their children, knowing what they're doing and who their friends are.
To help county parents better know the issues affecting their youngsters, Hans' group is implementing a pilot online survey for parents only. The survey will be available about the same time students are taking their survey.
It asks parents about their perceptions of young people and alcohol and drug use, Hans said. The anonymous survey does not contain questions about teen sexual activity.
The results will be compiled by Virginia Tech and used by the prevention council to determine whether it needs to adjust the curricula of its parenting programs.
Understandably, Hans is excited about the new survey.
Surveys can provide useful information -- whether it comes from adults or sixth-graders.
Shanna Flowers' column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
