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Revere continues contraception policy in high school

E-mail|Link|Comments () November 3, 2009 11:44 PM

By Kathleen Burge and Steven Rosenberg, Globe Staff

Revere voters turned down a controversial ballot initiative yesterday that would have ended the practice of allowing high school students to get contraception, including condoms and the morning-after pill, at the school’s health clinic.

The initiative, defeated in a 3,404-2,695 vote, was placed on the ballot in September, after a group of residents objected to the contraception policy approved by Mayor Tom Ambrosino and the Revere School Committee earlier this year. The policy, which allows students to receive birth control if they have the approval of their parents, was approved last February, after a survey suggested increasing rates of sexual activity and pregnancy among local teens.

‘‘I’ve renewed my faith in the electorate in their understanding of how important it is to give freedoms of choice to parents,’’ said Superintendent Paul Dakin, who called the program a ‘‘parent-choice policy.’’

The program, run out of the school’s health center, is overseen by physicians and nurses from the Massachusetts General Hospital. ‘‘It’s for families that are in need, families that see a crisis coming or are in a crisis, and need a solution of professionals to help them out,’’ he said.

As voters around the state went to the polls yesterday, many confronted heavily debated ballot questions about local issues. In Malden, residents will continue paying for city trash pick-up because not enough voters showed up at the polls to pass a ballot initiative. In Saugus, voters rejected a change to the city’s charter which would have created a new system of government.

In Revere, there were 21 pregnancies in the school district this year, up from 13 in 2008, Dakin said. A 2007 behavior risk survey found that 54 percent of the high school’s students had engaged in sexual intercourse. If the ballot question had passed, the city would have created a commission to study the health risks and benefits of both contraception and abstinence.

Kathleen Magno, who initiated the ballot question over the summer, said her group would continue to lobby the school department on the matter. ‘‘We really worked hard to get our message out there,’’ she said. Magno and others who wanted the policy overturned have been frequent critics of the School Committee’s decision and want more public forums and debate on the matter.

In Malden, a bid to repeal a controversial trash fee known as pay-as-you-throw failed on Tuesday even though voters backed the change by a nearly 3-to-1 ratio. The ballot question failed because the city charter requires one third of all registered voters — about 9,500 — to vote in the majority for a ballot question to pass — but only about 8,500 voters turned out yesterday.

‘‘I think (the final tally) is a little bit of a mixed message,’’ said Malden Mayor Richard Howard, noting that some councilors who support the fee won re-election, while other candidates who ‘‘built their campaigns’’ around backing the repeal lost.

Bob Miller, head of the citizen’s group Malden Taxpayers for Accountability, which led the repeal drive, said he hopes voters have still sent a clear message to Howard and the city council. ‘‘I hope city officials never, ever, ever make another decision like this to take money out of our pockets without consulting [residents] again,’’ he said.

In Saugus, voters defeated a new charter that would have changed the city’s current 50-member Town Meeting to a 27-member Town Assembly. The vote was close, with 53 percent of voters rejecting the ballot question. Since more than 35 percent of voters supported the charter, under state law it can go back on the ballot within two years if 10 percent of eligible voters sign a petition, said Peter Manoogian, chairman of the charter commission and member of the pro-charter group Saugus Citizens for a Better Charter.

‘‘It certainly shows the town was somewhat divided on this issue,’’ Manoogian said. ‘‘This isn’t a trouncing. If enough people are frustrated or aggrieved, it can go back on ballot.’’

Besides changes to Town Meeting, the charter would have replaced the Board of Selectmen, which is elected every two years, with a Select Board elected in staggered terms; created a licensing board and town auditor; prohibited town employees from running for public office unless they take a leave of absence; and modified the town manager’s duties.

‘‘We both agreed to disagree on this issue but tomorrow morning we will all be together again pushing this town forward,’’ said Marilyn Carlson, chairwoman of anti-charter Saugus Committee to Preserve Our Town.

Kathleen Burge can be reached at kburge@globe.com. Globe correspondents Travis Andersen and Brian Benson contributed to this story.