ACTION!

Since I last wrote, I'm sad to say there's been one more report of a teen pregnancy at my school.  BUT, action has started.  For ONCE, we are able to attempt to be proactive.  Next week, our two school nurses will be presenting (along side some local medical workers) the truth about pregnancy.  Here's an example of why my students need this.  One of my girls was squinting at the board.  She mentioned how she had to sit closer to see the board.  When asked why she wasn't wearing her glasses, she said that her sister told her that wearing glasses is bad for her baby, so she can't wear them until her baby is born.  
Anyway, we are having this HUGE meeting, and we are going to start discussions with our district to provide contraception for students at a need/ask basis.  I understand people's objection to contraception based on various belief systems, but here's my thought.  My students aren't getting the moral teachings at home to keep them from having teenage/pre-marital sex, and as much as we talk with them about EVERYTHING, they don't listen to us.  So, maybe SOME of them will be safe and not end up with babies at 15.  
Finally, we are going to talk to the boys.  They need to know that they will be held accountable for this baby the rest of their lives.  It isn't true that there are no monitory ramifications simply because the boys are under 18.  In fact, there are no age limits to child support, and should someone claim bankruptcy, it is the only debt that is not erased.
It's nice to feel like maybe there is something we can do as a staff, especially since we are so often broken records to our students.  Maybe when they hear from nurses, doctors, and lawyers, they will think twice about their choices.  Action feels good! 
"We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values.  For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people."  
-Pres. John F. Kennedy