Condoms at Prom: Should Adults Condone it?

Condoms are a hot commodity at some New York City public schools. In fact, one principal at a high school in East New York says every Friday at the end of the school day, without fail, there’s a long line outside of the nurse’s office of kids waiting to grab a handful of free condoms.

“We’re very open and transparent about the need to practice safe sex at our school,” the principal said, who asked to remain anonymous. “And the kids have no qualms about taking as many as they need. The free condoms are so popular, I sometimes wonder what the consequences would be if we didn’t have this available for them.”

Apparently, many other public high school principals agree: Darryl Rascoe, the principal at Bedford-Stuyvesant Preparatory High School, has aligned with a condom maker company called NuVo, to give away 500 condoms for his school's June 7 prom—one of three events sponsored by the condom company that will take place at the school as a part of its safe sex education program.

But while many high school administrators may agree in principal with a free condom giveaway, at least one principal feels that parents should also be involved.

Kavita Gupta, principal of the Brooklyn Academy of Global Finance in Bedford-Stuyvesant does not have a condom giveaway program at her school. BAGF is in its third year, and has not yet had a graduating class, but Gupta says she thinks it’s important to get the parents to weigh in on the decision.

“I believe that condom distribution at a school-wide event like a prom is a good measure,” said Gupta. “But there should be parental consent and parent involvement in making that school-wide decision, because condom distribution is still controversial.”

However, the principal from the East New York high school says that making condoms available is one thing, but to hand them out may be going a little too far.

“I think that on the one hand, we’re dealing with the reality around prom, and the reality is, a lot of pregnancies happen around prom,” he said. “To recognize this reality is good. But I think to actually promote it may be sending the wrong message.

“Why go out of your way to promote giving away condoms? It’s like adults telling kids, prom is a time you should be engaging in sex. The messages may get mixed up, and I don’t know how responsible that is for us to be sending mixed messages.”

What do you think? Should condoms be given away to students at their proms?