Several weeks ago, Lenoir County Schools approved a safer sex curriculum for all eighth-grade physical education and health classes. Each school was given the option to implement the eight-day instruction, called Making Proud Choices, either last semester or the current one.
Some campuses are already hitting the books.
Rochelle and Woodington Middle Schools have started instruction. Frink Middle School taught the curriculum in December, so health and physical education teachers are scheduled for Round 2 this semester.
“We were really impressed with the kids and how they handled it,” said Frink Physical Education teacher Trenton Lovekamp, who called the students mature when he went through the module lessons. “I think overall, it will be really effective. They’re not getting this information anywhere else at this age.”
Another Frink P.E. teacher, Clay Morgan, said students start forming romantic connections at this age.
“Some of the students are at the age where they are in relationships,” he said. “Their bodies are changing, and they’re starting to understand things.”
The county’s eighth-graders were targeted because Making Proud Choices data shows it’s the recommended age to begin discussions with kids about sex.
“This is when they are beginning to make choices and beginning to be interested in dating,” said Ellen Benton, LCS executive director of instruction. “We want to get them before they make a bad choice. We want to make sure they have all the information they need to make the best choice.”
The Department of Health and Human Services introduced Making Proud Choices to LCS last year. Before 2009, schools were only able to teach abstinence. When the Health Youth Act of 2009 passed, contraception and preventative teachings were required in the curriculum.
“When the law changed, we made sure that our textbooks had the information that was needed for beginning to teach protections against sexually transmitted diseases,” Benton said. “(Schools) really didn’t have a set program to teach it in. This gives them a very structured curriculum to make sure they’re teaching all that the law allows them to teach.”
In 2011, there were 37 cases of gonorrhea, 128 cases of chlamydia, and 7 percent of nine cases of syphilis diagnosed in Lenoir County adolescents and teens from 10 to 19 years old. The county’s teenage pregnancy percentage rate was 56.7 per 1,000 for girls between 15 and 19, compared to a 43.8/1,000 state average. Five girls between 10 and 14 were pregnant in 2011.
Making Proud Choices is an evidence-based program that provides a series of eight modules on pregnancy and STD prevention. Lenoir County middle school health teachers and principals were trained to teach the curriculum a few months ago. The school system sent a consent letter to parents before instruction began, and, according to Benton, hardly any opted out in the schools that have already started the program.
“We’ve had a few parents go to the school and look at the curriculum,” she said, noting that the law requires schools to have an extra copy of the work in the media center.
With about 700 eighth-graders in the county, officials are not expecting to see direct results from this first group.
“It will take us years to see whether or not it affects the STD rate in Lenoir County and the teenage pregnancy rate in Lenoir County,” Benton said.
She added Making Proud Choices has been implemented into other communities and has been shown effective. The program will be taught once a semester in eighth-grade classrooms as a permanent tool in the district.
Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 or at jessika.morgan@kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessikaMorgan.
STD Data for Lenoir County (2011, ages 10-19 years old)
37 cases of gonorrhea
128 cases of chlamydia
7 percent of nine total cases of syphilis
2011 North Carolina Youth and Sexual Risk Data (students in grades 9-12)
49.3 percent have had sexual intercourse
64 percent of seniors have had sexual intercourse
25.3 percent of students who had sexual intercourse during the past three months used alcohol or drugs before their last sexual intercourse
53.7 percent of sexually active students used a condom during their last sexual intercourse
16.8 percent has four or more sexual partners
9.5 percent have been physically forced to have sexual intercourse when they did not want to
Other facts:
Lenoir County is ranked 28th in teen pregnancies in the state
North Carolina has the 14th highest teen pregnancy rate in the United States. In 2011, there were 255 pregnancies among girls 10 to 14 years old
Source: Lenoir County Schools