Cara Fitpatrick

Palm Beach Post , May 13, 2008

FORT PIERCE — Five months after approving a sex education curriculum, the St. Lucie County School Board will consider Tuesday one of its most controversial pieces: a video demonstrating the use of condoms.

School board members voted 4-1 in favor of using "Get Real About AIDS" in the schools, but agreed to postpone consideration of the video until after its production. Board member Troy Ingersoll was the only dissenting vote.

The board will consider the video at 6 p.m. at the district offices in Fort Pierce . The video, an item on the board's consent agenda, will not be discussed unless a board members specifically requests to before the vote. The public will not have an opportunity to speak until after the vote, according to the agenda.

The video is available online at the district's Web site, www.stlucie.k12.fl.us, on the left side of the home page under "Health Curriculum."

The video, which is about five minutes long, shows two doctors, one man and one woman, providing messages about abstinence, a demonstration of the proper way to use a condom, and a reminder that condoms do not guarantee protection against pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases.

Parents can ask that their children not participate in the lesson.

Superintendent Michael Lannon recommended Get Real About AIDS to the school board last year, after the St. Lucie County Executive Roundtable presented it to him. The roundtable, a group of 27 community leaders who spent a year researching sex education programs, was concerned that the district's health curriculum didn't do enough to combat the high rate of HIV and AIDS in the county.

St. Lucie County has Florida 's highest rate of HIV and AIDS among black residents, according to statistics the health department released last year.

Opponents have derided the curriculum as focusing more on condoms and contraceptives than waiting until marriage. Some of those opponents have spoken at recent board meetings to remind board members of their opposition.

Pastor Bryan Longworth, a Port St. Lucie pastor who has been the most vocal opponent, e-mailed his supporters and asked them to show up at the meeting.

"Lannon and the condom pushing school board members hope you don't show up to Tuesday's meeting," he wrote. "The next generation depends on your voice for protection."