November 19, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

As a student of Old Town High School I feel cheated.

I can walk down any given hall, into any given classroom, into any locker room or into the cafetorium and be astounded by the things I hear. “There’s no AIDS in Old Town, we don’t need to worry about that here.” “Only queer peole get AIDS.” “That will never happen to me.”

The students of Old Town need AIDS education and the Eastern Maine AIDS Network could be an extremely valuable resource, yet the school board has taken an “Ingore it and it’ll go away” attitude. This is simply not healthy in these times. This is the 1990s. You cannot ignore AIDS.

It is a serious disease that will play a huge role in this country’s future. If the youth of today are to be ready to face the challenges of tomorrow they need to be well educated in the issues facing America and AIDS is one of them. …

I believe the school board members should be open to any resource available to better educate the students of OTHS which is why I am so astonished by the recent decision.

I could learn a lot were I able to listen to a person with AIDS speak, or attend an EMAN seminar, but these resources are closed to me now, and as I said, I feel cheated. I ask the school board to reconsider their decision, and to keep the well-being of the students in mind as they do so. Mary Varney Stillwater


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