Published: June 29, 2009 10:50 am      

Sasakwa School receives grant for Abstinence Only curriculum

SASAKWA — James Mathews, superintendent of Sasakwa Public School, recently announced the school was awarded the Abstinence Education School Grant for the school year 2009-2010. Approximately 90 students will be introduced to the concept of making healthy choices and abstinence until marriage.

Seventh and eighth grades will learn "Choosing the Best Path Curriculum" while ninth to 12th grades will have sessions about "Choosing the Best Journey Curriculum."

School officials say the concept of personal purity in body and mind challenges students to make healthy choices about their bodies so as to be able to realize their goals and dreams for their lives; lives which are unencumbered with negative consequences of premature sexual activity _ consequences such as sexually transmitted diseases, teen pregnancies, abortion, substance abuse and suicide.

An Oklahoma Youth Risk Behavior Survey 2007 showed that in 2007, 50.9 percent of Oklahoma's public high school students had engaged in sexual activity. This figure has increased from the 2003 YRBS (50.0 percent) an the 2005 YRBS (49.3 percent). IN 2005, Oklahoma teen birth rates were seventh worst nationally for 15-17 year olds. In 2006, an average of 20 babies a day were born to Oklahoma females ages 19 and under, totaling 7,320 for the year. Births to teens take a toll economically on the state, according to Catherine White, Sasakwa School nurse.

In 2006, the estimated cost to Oklahoma taxpayers was $149 million. Nationally, the cost was estimated to be approximately $9.1 billion. Educationally, only 40 percent of teen mothers graduate from high school and repeat births among teens also pose a problem. In 2006, among those who gave birth, 1,325 were having a second child and 235 were having their third child or more.

According to White, teenage parenthood is cyclical: daughters of adolescent female are 83 percent more likely to become mothers before they turn 18. Not only is teenage pregnancy a major concern among sexually active teenagers, the possibility of contracting a sexually transmitted disease exists as well, she said.

According to Dr. Jean Warner, chair of the newly formed Oklahoma Women's Coalition, an advocacy group for women and girls, Oklahoma is the third worst state in the nation for women and girls with respect to incarcerations, child abuse, divorce and teen births.

Sasakwa School Nurse Catherine White, R.N., M.A., will be the instructor for the eight sessions for each of the two grade groups and will begin the sessions during the fall of 2009.