Leading the Charge

After Earvin (Magic) Johnson's historic announcement last month that he had contracted the HIV virus, Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School might have been mistaken for the site of a regional AIDS education convention.

In the days following the announcement, Rindge and Latin, which is recognized for its extensive AIDS prevention efforts--including condom distribution to students for the past 18 months--found its halls and auditorium overrun by the media.

And for the next couple of weeks, school systems from around the nation deluged Rindge and Latin with phone calls.

Simply put, everybody wanted to know how one of the nation's leading schools in AIDS education and prevention was responding to the shocking news, said Lynn Schoff, manager of the city-run Teen Health Center located on school property.

"We were contacted by schools from Florida all the way to California," Schoff said. "They were all asking the same questions, looking to learn from our experience."

Sarah Blout, a senior who has participated in Rindge and Latin's AIDS Peer Leader program since the ninth grade, said her group and the Health Center organized a press conference the day after the announcement to urge other schools to adopt similar condom distribution programs.

"We were the smart ones, and they wanted to hear from the smart ones," said Blout, who played a key role in bringing about the condom distribution policy during her sophomore year.

While the outside world was curious about Rindge and Latin's AIDS education program, Schoff said the students were busy asking intelligent, candid questions.

"At first, the school was buzzing," she said. "Through the assemblies organized by the peer leaders that same week, the students showed that they now realize it's possible for them to get the disease."

"And they've never been as receptive to discussion and receiving the information. Hopefully, Magic's announcement will cause adults to reexamine their positions just as the students have," she said.

Blout said her fellow students were less shocked and able to react more responsibly to Magic's announcement than those at other area schools because Rindge and Latin already spends so much effort on AIDS education.

"I know that a lot of my peers immediately went to get tested and reflected on their past. Many went straight to the clinic to get condoms," Blout said.

Not Many Followers

In August, the Massachusetts Department of Education and Public Health recommended that all of its public schools consider AIDS prevention programs, including making condoms available to its students.

But while Schoff said the Magic episode has accelerated the trend, only two other schools in the state, in Falmouth and Martha's Vineyard, have agreed to implement such programs.

Movements in many other communities have been shoved aside. For instance, the Chelsea school system, run by Boston University, rejected a similar plan by a to 1 margin. And in Worcester, the school recently suspended students for passing out condoms to their peers.

"People in Worcester are calling to ask what they should do now," said School Committee member Henrietta Davis.

Blout said that in Lexington, where her father works, "they're real slow about it because there is so much opposition [to passing out condoms in the school.]"

John J. Bellwood, and all the other Rindge and Latin students interviewed, argued adamantly that other schools should provide the same condom distribution program, especially in the wake of the publicity surrounding Magic Johnson's announcement.

"Other schools should follow our example because we have to do something to slow down the spread of AIDS," said Bellwood, a senior. "If they don't learn from Rindge, then they'll have to learn the hard way.

Always the Leader

Rindge and Latin's pioneer approach in condom distribution should come as no surpise, according to Bert Giroux, the school's public relations director. He said the school, which currently enrolls 2100 students in grades nine through 12, has always made an effort to lead the battle against AIDS.

"We feel like we took a lead on AIDS prevention five or six years ago with AIDS Awareness Week, and we've continued to take the next logical steps to stay on top," Giroux said.

Blout entered the scene in the fall of 1988 as the only ninth-grader in the newly-formed AIDS Peer Leaders group that was trying to educate the student body about the dangers of AIDS and the necessity to practice safe sex.

"It's interesting to see the ignorance and irresponsibility of my peers," Blout said. "At first it freaked me out."

During Blout's sophomore year, the peer group decided that "the school's administration was moving too slowly on AIDS prevention." By early 1990, the group started passing out hundreds of AIDS prevention packets to students.

The distribution of the envelopes, which contained a condom, directions on how to use one, and an AIDS fact sheet, raised the ire of many school officials. But Giroux said the students had nothing to fear--and deserved praise for their initiative.

"They had legal advice that it was constitutional, and they proceeded in a sophisticated, professional manner," he said.

Meanwhile, another student group drafted a petition with 600 signatures asking the School Committee to allow the school to pass out condoms to its students.

The two efforts prompted the School Committee to form a subcommittee on the issue. Public hearings followed that spring, with input from faculty, students, a medical panel from the Cambridge Commission of Public Health and the general public.

About 90 percent of the participants supported the idea of condoms in the school, Giroux said, although some religious leaders and other critics stood firmly opposed to any such policy because they said it would advocate promiscuity.

Theresa M. Dilano, an elementary school reading tutor, said she testified that the school shouldn't spend time and resources on the condoms.

"With the money being so tight these days that teachers can't get all the necessary materials in the classroom, schools shouldn't be wasting money on condoms," Dilano said.

"And the students can also buy the condoms at the store or pick them up for free at one of Cambridge's six health clinics, she added. "It's not like we live in Montana where the nearest clinic is 50 miles away."

While a few School Committee members rejected the condom idea outright, committee member and former mayor Alfred E. Vellucci offered an alternative solution: give students vouchers to pick up condoms at nearby stores.

"That way, there would be peace with the parents who believed a school should be sacred and hallowed, and the students would still get their condoms," Vellucci said.

But a majority of the Committee opted for the original proposal of distributing condoms on school grounds. Henrietta Davis, who headed the subcommittee, said most members came to that conclusion after basing their decision on the medical point of view.

"We needed to attend to what the medical community was telling us," Davis said. "Their influence was to make it less of a political issue and more of a health issue."

Dr. Melvin H. Chalfen '50, who spoke before the school committee, suggested the condoms be distributed through the existing Teen Health Center--provided students first sit down with a counselor to discuss proper usage of the contraceptive, as well as the practice of abstinence as the best way to avoid sexually-transmitted diseases.

The program, in effect since May 1990, charges students 50 cents for three condoms if they can pay, Giroux said. And the Health Center remains open until 5 p.m. each day, as well as during the summer.

Mayor Alice K. Wolf, who supported the school program, attributes the success of the program to the students who first thrust the condom issue into the spotlight. "The students brought their matter to the attention of the city's leaders, showing that young people can be activists on their own behalf," Wolf said.

And that effort still draws praise from prinicpal Edward R. Sarasin. "There was a sense of social responsibility that the students felt within them," Sarasin said. "They did it with a great deal of courage, integrity and vision--that's why it was a success."

Schoff, who as the Health Center's manager sees the results more directly than anyone else, said the program has undoubtedly decreased the number of students having sex without protection and cut down on those treated for sexually transmitted diseases.

"And if nothing else, because of this program, many students are having their first responsible discussion about sex with adults," she said.

While Vellucci criticizes the current program for what he calls a low participation rate--an average of 75 students, or less than 5 percent of the student body, pick up about 300 condoms each month--Sarasin said that any minimal decrease in the transmission of sexual disease justifies the program.

"In the very simplest terms, the program is successful if we prevent even one student from contracting AIDS," the principal said. "It's as simple as that."

Can it Work Anywhere?

Sarasin was careful to point out that while the program has prospered in Cambridge, some cities might not be able to swallow such a radical change in their school systems.

He said that Cambridge fosters an atmosphere that promotes peaceful debates on issues. "I feel Cambridge handled the situation in the right manner through a lengthy dialogue that started with the students," the principal said.

Therefore, he argued, it is wrong to assume that other cities should automatically adopt a program similar to the one at Cambrdige Rindge and Latin.

"The school is not the sole unit responsible for prevention from AIDS," he said. "If a significant part of the population is afraid that condoms in the school give a message that it's OK to have sex, you must respect that opinion and go about the problem differently."

And while Chalfen said the program was appropriate for Cambridge, he too warned that "every community has its own character and must decide on this issue for itself."

But for AIDS education veteran Blout, the unequivocal need for universal condom distribution in public schools is crystal clear.

"Cities like Boston really need to get it together because our generation is going to get hit hard by AIDS," she said. "If these other school systems don't move faster on their own, may be it will require a student to get infected by AIDS and infect other students before the schools take action."

'Cities like Boston really need to get it together because our generation is going to get hit hard by AIDS' --Rindge and Latin senior Sarah Blout

The Teen Health Center

* 51 percent of Rindge and Latin students have had sex

* 57 percent of high school students nationwide have had sex

* 75 students get 300 condoms from the Health Center each month

* 35 percent of the Health Center's clients are under 16 and 32 percent are 17 and over

sources: the Teen Health Center and the U.S. Center for Disease Control