Sun-Times: CPS program puts free condoms in nearly every school — including elementaries

 In the fifth grade and yes I'm going back to the 1990s here the least we got were booklets about puberty. About how our children's bodies develop into adult bodies. The books were somewhat graphic although we didn't get much in the "birds and the bees" talk in school.

But to hand out condoms starting in the fifth grade? There is a time to beginning really talking to young people about sex sooner or later young men and young women will begin to get together and date and then some. It's all about how you go about it and I don't believe fifth grade is the correct time to introduce condoms. Well I wonder who set this CPS policy.

Sun-Times:

When Chicago Public Schools fully reopen late next month for the first time since the start of the pandemic, students will be returning to schools stocked with hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, masks, forehead thermometers and air purifiers.

But nearly every CPS school will also have items that experts say will keep students healthy and safe regardless of the status of the pandemic: menstruation products and condoms.

Both will be provided as the result of a new policy passed by the CPS Board of Education in December. A similar action that will require all schools in Illinois provide menstruation products generated far more attention this spring when it was passed by state lawmakers in Springfield.

Under the CPS policy, schools that teach fifth grade and up must maintain a condom availability program as part of an expanded vision of sexual health education. That means all but a dozen, which enroll only younger grades, of the more than 600 CPS schools will have condoms.

The idea was years in the making and, though it may come with some controversy, was what many experts agreed was a step in the right direction for student health, CPS’ top doctor Kenneth Fox said in an interview last week. Until now, principals have had massive leeway to use their own discretion on sex-related education and resources.

“Young people have the right to accurate and clear information to make healthy decisions,” said Fox, a pediatrician of 30 years. “And they need access to resources to protect their health and the health of others as they act on those decisions.”

Later in this article:

“Essentially what we want to do is make condoms available to students for if and when they think they need them,” he said. “ … When you don’t have those protections and don’t make those resources available then bad stuff happens to young people. You have elevated risks of sexually transmitted infections, of unintended pregnancies, and that’s very preventable stuff.”

So 5th graders might need condoms?

So do young people know how to read? Do they know how to do math? How are they doing in the classroom because unfortunately we're taking care of them outside of it evidently.