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The candidates debated one of the
school board's most controversial issues of the past year: rescinding
some restrictions on junior high and high school students' ability to
leave campus for private medical services ranging from drug abuse
counseling to abortions. The board ultimately left the district's policy
in place, requiring students to get parental consent for those visits.
Collins originally supported easing the policy to let students leave
campus, but backed down once he saw strong community opposition. Marks
and Cline voted against the change. Rolicheck supported the change.
Challengers Standart, Altman, Josh Vander Veen and Sue Zwahlen said they
would have voted against the proposed policy change.
Challenger Ruben Villalobos said he thinks the change conforms with the
law and would have voted for the new policy. He called out the board for
avoiding a final vote on the issue, saying it was done to shirk
controversy during an election year.
Complete Modesto
Bee article
Summary – The Nanny State in Modesto:
There is a battle being waged throughout California which exemplifies
what has been called the “Nanny State”, where government takes the
position of being the entity that takes control of different aspects of
our lives and dictates what is “best for us”. It revealed itself in the
form of parental rights this in the early part of 2009 when the Modesto
City Schools Board of Education (MCS) was notified that they needed to
develop a policy which allowed school children to be released from
school, as an excused absence, if they told school officials they wanted
to seek “Confidential Medical Services” (CMS).
The impetus for this policy came directly
from radical agendas from the ACLU, Planned Parenthood and other
organizations who’s objective is to twist California State law and the
Education Code to advance their own agenda, usurping parental rights to
know where their children are during school hours and expanding the
definition of privacy rights for minors under State law. The result was
a hotly contested debate in the public arena throughout the summer at
scheduled MCS Board meetings, culminating in a final “No vote” to
implement a new school policy which would have allowed children to leave
school grounds without parental notification and consent.
While it can be seen as a victory in the
sense that the new Board Policy was not adopted, this issue is far from
over. In essence, there isn’t an actual policy in place that
specifically mandates parental notification and consent for the release
of your child for CMS – there is simply an “Opt Out” policy which, if
parents do not want their children released, they merely do not fill out
a piece of paper at the beginning of the school year and the school will
not release them. But the forces which have brought this issue to MCS
are not going to just sit back and accept the defeat. You can be assured
that this issue WILL come up again at some point after the November
elections. IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU VOTE DURING THE NOVEMBER ELECTIONS,
and that you understand the positions of the candidates. At some point
after the new School Board is elected (4 seats are up for grabs this
time) you can bet we will revisit this issue.
These are sample medical services that
students COULD obtain during class hours if the proposed board policy
were enacted:
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Drug counseling
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Depression counseling
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Suicide counseling
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Mental health counseling
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STD testing
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Contraceptives
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Pregnancy testing
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Surgical and medical abortions
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