While doing the research for this story, I found out that some schools in California are not teaching the required courses for HIV/AIDS prevention, and that sometimes the "Comprehensive" Sex Education they offer consists of a couple of days in a health class that also teaches Drivers Ed.
Paula Blaney at the Oroville Union High School District office directed me to their website so I could see the Sex Education course overview and which textbooks they used. As you can see, the opt-out notice at the end of the course description includes the HIV/AIDS prevention section. I asked Blaney about this and she said she would have to find a draft of the actual letter that is sent to the parents. As of deadline, I had not heard back from her.
According to the 2010 California State Health Status Profile for Butte County, the rates of births for mothers aged 15-19 is much lower here than a lot of other counties (Imperial and Monterey, to name two) and also lower than the state average.
Sandee Renault of Butte County Health Department discusses what can happen when the sex education talk is given to both parents and teens.
