25 years ago: Junior high drug curriculum begins over parent objections

From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Jan. 28, 1990:

Students at South Junior High began participating this week in a new drug prevention curriculum that had received mixed reviews from parents. “Skills for Adolescence” had been adopted on a trial basis by the Lawrence school board after members had given the program their unanimous approval, but community members were divided on the innovation. “Children are encouraged to choose their own values apart from what they’ve been taught at home,” objected parent Jeanine Blanck. “If it’s gong to be a drug program, it should just be a drug program.” SJHS teacher Carol Hampton, however, said the curriculum was superior to similar ones precisely because it dealt with more than just drugs. “It has been found that merely providing information about drugs is not sufficient,” Hampton said. She added that the course was designed to teach students decision-making skills, communication skills, goal-setting, and resistance to peer pressure. Blanck said she also opposed the aspect of students keeping journals and sharing personal details, calling these acts an invasion of family privacy, but Lynne Renick, another teachers, said confidentiality was stressed to students.