PROVINCETOWN, Mass., June 24 (UPI) -- The Provincetown, Mass., school board will rethink its policy letting schoolchildren of any age get free condoms at school this fall, the board chairman said.
"We're going to revisit it," School Committee Chairman Peter Grosso told The Boston Globe Thursday.
His comments followed a rash of complaints from parents, a family-advocacy group and Gov. Deval Patrick, who is running for re-election, Fox News reported.
Patrick and others complained about the lack of a minimum age for condoms and the provision to keep student requests secret and ignore parents' objections.
"I guess the biggest thing (generating controversy) is that it's for elementary school kids, but where do we draw the line?" Grosso told the Globe.
School Superintendent Beth Singer said the policy is for adolescents and first-graders wouldn't really be able to get free condoms, despite the policy's language requiring school nurses to supply condoms to any student who asks. If an early elementary school pupil asks for a condom, the nurse would ask the pupil a series of questions and almost certainly deny them, she said.
The policy was on the public agenda for weeks and was discussed in open session and on local cable TV channels, Fox News said. When the board adopted the policy June 8, no member of the public objected, Singer said, but after Fox TV station WFXT, Boston, ran a story Wednesday night family-advocacy group Massachusetts Family Institute condemned the policy and accused the board of promoting promiscuity.
Several high schools in Massachusetts make condoms available to students.
