A new sex education policy at Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the nation’s third-largest public school district, will provide free condoms to students as young as 10 years old.
The policy (pdf), which was approved by the board of education but wasn’t fully implemented due to school closures, requires every school teaching “grade fifth and up” to have a “condom availability program.” There are currently over 600 schools in the CPS system, most of which serve students in fifth grade and older.
Each elementary school will receive 250 condoms initially, while high schools will receive 1,000, according to Chicago Sun-Times. When a school runs out of condoms, principals will be responsible for asking the school district and the city’s health department for a restock.
“Condoms are provided at no cost by the Chicago Department of Public Health in an ongoing effort to mitigate the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection, and unintended pregnancy among CPS students,” the school district explained.
The CPS also noted that the policy is “medically accurate,” “culturally, developmentally, and age appropriate,” and “guided by anti-racist pedagogy,” although it is not immediately clear how the availability of free condoms among middle school students helps mitigate racism. – READ MORE
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