The Crucial Ingredient in this AIDS Education Formula: Community Support

Abstract:
[Archived] The superintendent of schools in the city of York, Pennsylvania describes how his school board and staff developed and implemented an AIDS curriculum. The first step was to send letters about the proposed curriculum to every parent in the school system. Later, parents were given the opportunity to review the course outlines for all grade levels and to view the films selected for use in the courses. Parents were able to exclude their youngsters from the AIDS courses by signing a statement at the bottom of a letter and returning it to the school, but only 29 of the 4,000 children in grades affected by the new curriculum were withdrawn by their parents. The school system was assisted in implementing the curriculum by accurate, complete, and nonsensational coverage from the local newspaper. The curriculum adopted was designed to cover all grades, using information appropriate for the given age group.

Author(s): Van Newkirk, J.C.

Publication: American School Board Journal


Date Published: 2/1/1988

Pages: 2

Location Code: 9021