Modesto High School students want a broader discussion of teen pregnancy, but Modesto City Schools has forbidden them from tackling the subject in a human-relations class.

So five teens will come to the Board of Education tonight to challenge the district's decision.

The students want to bring speakers -- who would talk about teen pregnancy, abortion and birth control -- into a class that focuses on diversity and conflict resolution.

They said a required health class glosses over sexuality because it spends most of its time on physiology rather than social pressures and personal beliefs.

"Is preaching abstinence effective?" said 17-year-old Kristina McKibben, a junior at the school. "Ask the teens."

The students had the backing of Samantha Phillips Bland, director of family planning for the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency, who said educators should be glad when teens seek out some straight talk.

"I really want to applaud these young people," Bland said. "These are really, really crucial issues."

About 82 percent of high school students are sexually active by senior year, Bland said, and 981 babies were born to teen parents in the county last year.

Chris Mitchell, a sophomore at Modesto High, said schools must tackle the issue head-on, because many teens are rushing into adult lifestyles they do not fully understand.

"There are just too many students out there having sex," 15-year-old Mitchell said.

District officials were not swayed by the arguments.

David Cooper, the district's director of secondary education, said the class was not the proper venue for such a discussion. He said talk of human sexuality belongs in health class.

"We looked at the course outline for human relations and there is nothing in the course outline about sex education," Cooper said.

Teacher Sharon Froba said she proposed the class at her students' request. She planned to bring a diverse group of speakers to class -- including teen mothers and religious leaders -- to discuss birth control as well as the pros and cons of abortion.

She sent permission slips home to parents and got a thumbs up from 34 of 35 families, but district officials told her to cancel the program.

Her students voted unanimously to take their complaints to the board and chose delegates to make their case.

"They were in disbelief," Froba said. "They felt very strongly about it."

Carolyn Lenz said she was shocked when she first saw her daughter's permission slip.

But a frank discussion with 16-year-old Darcie Lenz convinced her that teens are mature enough to debate the issue, and need factual information to make smart choices.

"I first said 'No, I don't want you to know both sides,'" Lenz said. "After talking to her, she changed my mind."

Reprinted by permission of Modesto Bee.