Starting this fall, New York City's high school teachers will be able to demonstrate condom use during health class, a change from the current rule that allows demonstrations to take place only in health resource rooms, where condoms are distributed.
"Condom demonstrations have long been part of the high school condom availability program and have been shown to increase rates of condom use," said Department of Education spokesman Jason Fink. "Allowing condom demonstrations in high school health education class will provide students with medically accurate information that can help them stay healthy.”
Fink emphasized that parents can always opt out if they don't want their children to attend the demonstrations, which will be taught with anatomically correct models.
“Parents are the most important educators in a child's life and it important that we empower them to engage in their child's education on this topic or any other," he said.
New York City began requiring sex education classes for middle and high school students in 2011. Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña informed her superintendents of the change last month and mentioned it at a City Council hearing last week. It was first reported in the school newspaper of Townsend Harris High School in Queens.
The Department of Education said the chancellor did not need approval from the Panel for Educational Policy to allow the demonstrations, a sign of how much times have changed since the legislature granted the mayor control of the schools in 2002.
Twenty-five years ago, the old Board of Education was sharply divided when former schools Chancellor Joseph Fernandez wanted to distribute condoms in schools, to prevent not only teen pregnancy but HIV transmission. Public hearings went on for hours as New Yorkers debated the appropriateness of giving condoms to teenagers. The plan was approved, but was later amended so parents could opt out.
A study later found condom distribution in schools increased the use of condoms among teens, when comparing New York to Chicago's public schools.