Atlanteax
04-13-2004, 12:20 PM
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/auto/epaper/editions/tuesday/local_news_04b7653f7341427700f4.html
Students using bracelets as sexual signals
By Nirvi Shah, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
The multicolored set of plastic bracelets many Palm Beach County middle and high school students are sporting these days aren't just a fashionable fad.
At some schools, boys and girls snap off one of their classmate's colored gel wrist bands in exchange for a corresponding sexual favor, health department officials told school board members Monday.
For example, a person wearing a white band may mean she is willing to kiss to the person who pulls it from her wrist. A red band means a lap dance and black is intercourse. The meanings may vary from school to school.
And students are wearing them countywide, health officials said.
"There's a lot of things going on out there that we don't know about," Health Department spokesman Tim O'Connor said.
Health Department Director Jean Malecki sported some of the bracelets at the school board presentation to make a point about the need for more sex education in public schools, especially because of the county's status as an AIDS epicenter, including its youth, and the rising teen pregnancy rate.
Malecki asked board members not to fear the backlash of a few parents who oppose sex education. A survey of local families suggests almost 90 percent want their children to have comprehensive sex education in school.
School board members agreed to review the current curriculum, focusing on abstinence, and to expand school nurses' role to include counseling pregnant teens and pregnancy testing.
"This is frightening. This is absolutely frightening," school board member Debra Robinson said. "While I would hope that my children as well as everyone else's child would not have sex, I'm also living in the real world."
Students using bracelets as sexual signals
By Nirvi Shah, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
The multicolored set of plastic bracelets many Palm Beach County middle and high school students are sporting these days aren't just a fashionable fad.
At some schools, boys and girls snap off one of their classmate's colored gel wrist bands in exchange for a corresponding sexual favor, health department officials told school board members Monday.
For example, a person wearing a white band may mean she is willing to kiss to the person who pulls it from her wrist. A red band means a lap dance and black is intercourse. The meanings may vary from school to school.
And students are wearing them countywide, health officials said.
"There's a lot of things going on out there that we don't know about," Health Department spokesman Tim O'Connor said.
Health Department Director Jean Malecki sported some of the bracelets at the school board presentation to make a point about the need for more sex education in public schools, especially because of the county's status as an AIDS epicenter, including its youth, and the rising teen pregnancy rate.
Malecki asked board members not to fear the backlash of a few parents who oppose sex education. A survey of local families suggests almost 90 percent want their children to have comprehensive sex education in school.
School board members agreed to review the current curriculum, focusing on abstinence, and to expand school nurses' role to include counseling pregnant teens and pregnancy testing.
"This is frightening. This is absolutely frightening," school board member Debra Robinson said. "While I would hope that my children as well as everyone else's child would not have sex, I'm also living in the real world."