The Catholic News Agency reports:
The Modesto City School Board on Monday voted to allow junior high and high school students to leave campus during the school day for “confidential medical services,” …. without the consent or knowledge of their parents.
Karen England, executive director of the pro-family lobbying group Capitol Resource Institute, attended the meeting and reported that four people testified in favor of “excluding parents.” Three were from Planned
Parenthood while one was described as an “activist.”
School district attorney Roman Munoz said the new policy updates district regulations to conform to a provision of the state Education Code which took effect in 1986.
The relevant section of the Education Code says the governing board of each school district in each academic year should notify pupils in grades 7 to 12 and their parents and guardians that school authorities may “excuse any pupil from the school for the purpose of obtaining confidential medical services without the consent of the pupil’s parent or guardian.”
England said the law “provides permission” for implementing confidential medical release but “certainly does not impose a mandate.”
The Sacramento Bee said that medical services can include pregnancy testing, contraception, abortion, sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment, counseling and treatment for rape, drug abuse, mental health and other services.
No prayer in school, but a trip to the clinic is perfectly fine. What are these people thinking? Look at that list. Shouldn’t parents know about their child’s mental health, STD’s and mental health issues?
How many children are going to suffer greatly before we wake up and realize this isn’t helping. Even the kids in abusive homes can’t get help from this. Those kids can just keep covering it up with no outside help. Brilliant, huh? Let’s just keep covering up the bad so everyone can have free sex! Ya’ll know that free sex is more important than anything else, right?
YIKES! Junior High?! We are talking about 12 and 13 year olds, right?
They don’t even have the BODIES of adults! Who in their right mind can confuse them with someone old enough to make their own medical decisions.
This is @$$inine.
“Shouldn’t parents know about their child’s mental health, STD’s and mental health issues? ”
Nope. My parents found out about my issues and then threw me into therapy on and off for 6 years.
FAIL.
“Shouldn’t parents know about their child’s mental health, STD’s and mental health issues? ”
Or surgical procedures? How come parents can’t be trusted to learn about abortions but need to be informed for a boob job?
Whoops, I didn’t realize I put mental health in there twice! Yikes!
Rae –
Many kids get the exact opposite of what you had. I know that sometimes parents screw everything up, but does that mean the rest of the kids have to suffer? It’s kinda a double edge sword if you think about it. However, the therapist should have done something to help your parents understand the importance of not quitting therapy. I am sorry you had to go through that.
On the other spectrum, my parents didn’t notice my depression and ADHD so I went through my teens and most of my 20′s without knowing. My life would have been 10 times easier if I had known what was wrong with me. I knew there was something off, but didn’t know what and didn’t know what to do about it.
Don’t forget about getting parental permission to get the ears pierced, tattoo, or get a benedryl at school!
This is outrageous but not surprising. I’d bet it’s a minority school too.
I think the parents have a right to notify the school in writing that they do not approve and do not give permission for their child to be taken out of school for any reason.
The Planned Parenthood and other clinics should be required to keep letters from parents on file – who refuse to allow any services to be performed inside the clinic. This could be considered an “advance notification of non-approval for abortion”. I wonder if that has been tried/tested in states that have very lax or non-existent parental notification laws.
Just what I expected.
From the Modesto City Schools web site:
http://mcs.monet.k12.ca.us/District/Welcome.aspx
Arturo M. Flores
Superintendent
Modesto City Schools
There are more than 31,000 students in Modesto City Schools.
Enrolled in programs reaching from infancy to adulthood, they are as diverse as the State of California itself: one in seven of the nation’s children lives in our state. A growing number of these children are not fluent in the English language. In fact, Modesto City Schools serves more limited-English-proficient students than 97% of all other California school districts…
To transport, house, feed, and educate these young people requires over 3,200 employees and an annual budget in excess of $205 million dollars. And yet, we understand no public institution can succeed without the confidence and support of the people it serves. …
“……He advanced to administrator of comprehensive high school reform and redesign. He considers his tenure as administrator as one of his major professional successes. The five-year program he planned and implemented consisted of developing close partnerships with both the Carnegie Corporation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. ”
Of course the Gates’ Foundation is heavily involved in population control around the world…..
I’d bet that the Hispanic parents who are not English-speaking will have no idea that this new policy is in effect.
“However, the therapist should have done something to help your parents understand the importance of not quitting therapy. I am sorry you had to go through that.”
Um…the therapist was very clear about me not quitting therapy- but I would have none of it. I didn’t want to go because I wasn’t improving. And all they did was prescribe MOAR drugs that were useless.
You can’t cure being a beeyotch. It’s not even in the DSM. :-p
Good point.