inothernews:

Good thing Wall Streeters get whisked away in limos with tinted windows paid for with bonuses and big tax breaks.

August 10, 2011 — Middle and high school students in New York City’s public schools will be required to take sex education classes this year for the first time in almost 20 years, the New York Times reports. The curriculum will include lessons on condom use, anatomy, pregnancy, the risks of unprotected sex and other topics. Parents will be able to opt their children out of lessons on contraception.

The mandate is part of a larger three-year, $130 million initiative that Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration announced last week to improve the lives of black and Latino teenagers. Data show that black and Latino teens in New York City have higher rates of unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections than their white peers.

“It’s obviously something that applies to all boys and all girls,” Linda Gibbs, the deputy mayor for health and human services, said. “But when we look at the biggest disadvantages that kids in our city face, it is blacks and Latinos that are most affected by the consequences of early sexual behavior and unprotected sex,” she added.

Current state law requires that middle and high school students take one semester of health education. The new city mandate requires schools to teach one semester of sex education in sixth or seventh grade and again in ninth or 10th grade. The administration is recommending that schools use “out-of-the-box” curriculum sets from HealthSmart and Reducing the Risk. About 64% of middle schools in the city already use the HealthSmart curriculum. The city Department of Education will offer training courses for teachers before the school year begins on Sept. 8 (Santos/Phillips, New York Times, 8/9).