President George W. Bush wants the federal government to promote sexual abstinence. His initiative, and that of the Republicans in Washington, have produced grants to enable state based education groups to form and provide professional education linking good character with sexual responsibility -- sexual abstinence.
At least one powerful person in Maine thinks this is a very bad idea. Unfortunately, she has the power to scare the gatekeepers in the public schools. The non sectarian program is designed to work through public schools. We wonder how successful they can be if Education Commissioner Susan Gendron is committed to stopping them. Make no mistake, she is committed. Click Here to read her August memo that was sent to all Maine schools.
The group "Heritage of Maine" has received $500,000 to spend on abstinence education this year. The public resistance of Ms. Gendron is sure to make their job difficult, if not impossible.
Here is what you can do to help. All Christian pastors and parents and grandparents in Maine need to call their local principal and superintendent and ask them to invite the group "Heritage of Maine" to provide character education in the school. Make sure you follow up. The phone number for Heritage of Maine is 878-5438.
Without help from good folks at the local level the good intentions and skills of these fine educators are not going to reach the intended audience. And that means that Maine will suffer through more unintended pregnancies, and rising levels of fornication by our precious young people. Help Maine call our great youngsters to a high and decent standard in relationships.
God knows they are pummeled from all sides with the opposite message. It is way past time adults provided this sort of common sense encouragement to the next generation.
One final note, the abstinence education group used to be called "Character Counts in Maine." It is now called "Heritage of Maine." You will notice the "Character Counts in Maine" name in the Gendron memo.
