NAPLES – A proposal before the School Administrative District 61 board of directors would allow for the distribution of condoms to students at Lake Region High School without parental consent.

The board’s personnel committee voted 3-1 Monday to forward the proposal to the full board, which is slated to take action on the proposal at a meeting on Monday, March 4.

The lone dissenter on the committee, Peter Morrison of Bridgton, said he is opposed to condom distribution since it would be conducted without parents’ knowledge or consent. He also wants to slow down what he calls a hasty process.

“I voted against it for moral and ethical reasons as well as the fact that I felt parents needed to weigh in on the issue,” Morrison said. “And I don’t feel that one week’s time is enough notice for everyone to find out about this.”

According to Jean Zimmerman, HIV Prevention Education Program coordinator for the state Department of Education, several school districts in Maine allow free distribution of condoms to students either through the school nurse or a school-based health clinic. If allowed at Lake Region, Morrison said, the condoms would be donated by outside organizations.

Morrison said he has received much feedback after Monday night’s decision by the personnel committee. Members Karla Swanson-Murphy of Bridgton, Cynthia LeBlanc of Bridgton and Karen Eller of Bridgton voted for the measure. Another committee member, Richard Merritt of Sebago, was absent.

Swanson-Murphy and Eller didn’t respond to phone calls for comment on their vote. LeBlanc said she would wait until Monday’s board meeting to discuss the proposal in public.

“Actually I don’t really have a comment right now,” LeBlanc said. “I’m going to wait until Monday’s meeting and see. But yes, I was for it.”

The school board’s chairwoman, Jody Gray of Bridgton, who’s not a member of the personnel committee, said she wouldn’t comment on the matter.

“It’s my personal policy not to speak with the media,” she said. “I will express my comments at board meetings.”

When contacted to provide details on the policy, which Morrison said is not in written form as far as he knows, SAD 61 Superintendent Kathleen Beecher said the high school does not distribute condoms to students now and that the new proposal, if passed Monday, would “allow the school nurse at the high school to be able to distribute condoms for free if kids want or need them,” she said, adding that she believes many high schools already distribute free condoms.

“Basically the news is that it’s on the agenda and if people want to come they can certainly make comments,” she added.

The school nurse, Karry Joly, could not be reached for comment prior to deadline.

According to Morrison, who said he’s received many emails and phone calls from frustrated parents since Monday night’s meeting, said the personnel committee had “very little discussion” prior to the vote and seemed to want the full board to weigh in on what Morrison said could be a controversial issue for the school district, which includes Bridgton, Naples, Casco and Sebago.

“For me, it’s a religious thing. I don’t think these things should be handed out to kids. I believe in abstinence,” he said. “The moral issue is that I believe parents should have a say in this with their kids and with the parents knowing about it.”

Morrison, who hosts a website in town that allows residents to weigh in on local matters of concern, said he will vote against the policy but that he doesn’t know how the board will vote.

“There are some conservatives, there are some liberals, and there are some moderates on the board, so I don’t know if it’s going to pass,” he said. “It’s ironic because this district has always taken a conservative stance on a lot of things.”

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