Major victory achieved in Holyoke with Alliance's guidance

On April 5, the Holyoke School Committee voted 7-3 to supplement the current health education curriculum with additional comprehensive sex education lessons covering birth control, abstinence, sexually transmitted infections, and healthy relationships. This vote represents a major victory for Holyoke students, achieved through a collaboration between the Alliance, the School Committee, and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Read more from The Republican, Holyoke School Committee adopts additional sex ed program:

In the state Department of Public Health report released last week, Holyoke ranked first in the state for teen pregnancy with 115.3 births for every 1,000 females ages 15 to 19. The state average was 20.1 births for females of the same age. City educators have been working with the Massachusetts Alliance of [sic] Teen Pregnancy and a city task force developed more than a year ago by Mayor Elaine M. Pluta, who was then a city councilor, to select one of a number of recommended science-based programs."