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Staff Photo by John Rawlston/Chattanooga Times Free Press - Willie Richardson of the OnPoint organization, a group that provides "abstinence-only" sex education classes, talks to a seventh grade class at LaFayette Middle School on Wednesday afternoon.
LAFAYETTE, Ga. -- The computer screen in the corner of the middle school math classroom reads "Guard Your Heart."
In scripty, pink letters, the message serves as a teaching backdrop for Faith Simms, as she preaches her gospel of sexual purity to the classroom of seventh-grade girls at LaFayette Middle School.
"Rule No. 1," she said. "Date someone who plans to remain abstinent. It's hard, but ask them that up front."
Ms. Simms is a full-time educator for On Point, an organization that goes into schools in North Georgia and Hamilton County teaching teenagers to abstain from sex and other risky behaviors.
On Point, like other abstinence-only programs, recently received a boost from President Barack Obama's health care legislation in the form of state-administered Title V grants.
Some expected the federal money to be discontinued and were surprised when it was revived for five years with $250 million in federal funds. Also approved in the health care legislation was $375 million for more comprehensive sex education programs.
Officials in both Georgia and Tennessee have said they will take Title V money, but they have not set a timeline for when individual organizations can apply.
Kathryn Grant, spokeswoman for On Point, said the nonprofit organization's previous funding for its program went away in the third year of a five-year grant, so the Title V option came at just the right time.
"It's a good fit for what we do. We really try to have a holistic approach," Ms. Grant said. "It's really positive that they added it back to the health care bill because teens need to know it's an option to say 'no' to sex, just like we need to teach them to say 'no' to violence and drugs and alcohol."
Bea Lurie, president and CEO of Girls Inc. of Chattanooga, said her organization might look into applying for comprehensive sex education grants, but not those for abstinence only.
"We encourage kids to have smart choices, to have the facts. We want kids to understand what the consequences of decisions are," she said. "I think there's more data in support of comprehensive sex education."
LaFayette Middle School physical education teacher Sherry Swanson said she appreciated On Point coming into her school because it provides a message that often doesn't get out.
BY THE NUMBERS
* $250 million: Grant money now available for abstinence-only education
* $375 million: Grant money now available for comprehensive sex education
Source: Education Week.
"In our society, it's completely acceptable to partake in sexual activity. But we're saying, 'Look, this doesn't have to happen,'" she said. "These programs step in and do maybe what parents should have done.
"People say, 'Aww, we can't keep them from having sex. Here's a condom; here's how to use it.' But this is not behavior for young people."
Seventh-grader Summer Anderson said she always has planned on waiting to have sex until she's married, but listening to her On Point teachers over the past two weeks has reconfirmed her decision.
"They teach you different stuff you don't expect about sex, diseases you could possibly get," she said. "If you decide to do it now, how it could affect your future."
Follow Kelli Gauthier on Twitter at twitter.com/gauthierkelli.
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Kelli Gauthier covers K-12 education in Hamilton County for the Times Free Press. She started at the paper as an intern in 2006, crisscrossing the region writing feature stories from Pikeville, Tenn., to Lafayette, Ga. She also covered crime and courts before taking over the education beat in 2007. A native of Frederick, Md., Kelli came south to attend Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in print journalism. Before newspapers, ...
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