High school teaches abstinence, 20 kids get chlamydia

Nearly 7 percent of students at Crane High School in Crane, Texas, have chlamydia. Compare that to the county’s 0.26 percent rate of chlamydia in 2013.

The high school has 300 students, and the student body has 20 cases of chlamydia, reports My San Antonio.

The Crane Independent School District sent letters to parents about the outbreak to warn parents of juniors and seniors of the risk of infection. The Texas Department of State Health services informed Crane and Upton County officials after seeing the alarming numbers.

What kind of sex education is taught in Crane County schools?

Abstinence.

Crane High School has three days of sex education in the fall and encourages abstinence. The school district’s superintendent Jim T. Rumage defended the approach, saying that abstinence is an effective way to prevent chlamydia.

“If kids are not having any sexual activity, they can’t get this disease,” he said. “That’s not a bad program.”

Rumage and his board are reviewing the curriculum, however, and will propose a curriculum on May 19.