Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : District Adopts AIDS Education Program : Schools: Sulphur Springs trustees vote to make pilot instruction offered in March an annual event.

SANTA CLARITA —  A voluntary AIDS education program initially feared too explicit for elementary school children will now be offered annually by the Sulphur Springs School District.

Trustees voted 4 to 0 Wednesday night to make the pilot program a regularly scheduled event, a decision fueled by favorable comments from the 71 parents who participated in it. Trustee Gary DeRevere was absent.

“I think that everyone was very positive,” said Trustee Kerry Clegg. “It (the program) met exactly what our expectations and our needs were.”

Only one survey respondent said the instruction, offered in March, didn’t provide an adequate opportunity to talk about AIDS with their children, and only three residents found the material inappropriate for their children.

When the voluntary AIDS instruction was first proposed, critics said it would be too explicit for young children.

“I think we were very sensitive to those parents and . . . everything we presented (was) age-appropriate,” said board President Ethelyn Glancy.

Organizers say they are pleased, but not surprised by the approval.

“It’s consistent with the fact they decided to take a strong stand to do this in the first place,” said Marc Winger, assistant superintendent of instructional services who helped organize and teach the program.

The program format will remain the same in future presentations, but may be offered in the fall semester rather than the spring, Winger said.

Information was presented in three meetings, with parents attending along with their children, and the AIDS material modified for each grade level. Winger, a registered nurse, a college health science professor and a local AIDS expert conducted the meetings.

The largest attendance, 125, was at the kindergarten through second-grade session. About 50 attended the sessions for third- and fourth-graders and fifth- and sixth-graders. Two AIDS presentations in January prefaced the program and featured more explicit information for parents only.

In the March meetings, the youngest children were told about the importance of good health and hygiene habits, were asked if they had heard about acquired immune deficiency syndrome and were reassured they couldn’t catch the disease.

Children in the third and fourth grades learned AIDS was an attack on the immune system and involved bodily fluids. Those in the fifth and sixth grades were told about transmission of the disease.