LAKE REGION – The debate over whether free condoms should be provided at Lake Region High School will continue.

At Monday night’s meeting, School Administrative District 61 board members voted 9-3 to table the issue for the second time this year.

With vocal advocates on both sides of the aisle making their opinions known, residents, school faculty and students engaged in nearly two hours of public discussion. However, the lack of a set policy surrounding the proposal proved to be the major stumbling block to achieving a final decision.

High school nurse Karry Joly, who originated the condom proposal out of concern for students engaging in unprotected sex, kicked off the meeting with a prepared statement highlighting the importance of condoms in the prevention of both pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

“We do encourage abstinence in that it is the best choice for teens; however, we cannot ignore that teens are having unprotected sex,” she said.

Once Joly finished speaking she passed things over to student advocate and LRHS staff member Jamie Riel, who with the help of three high school students presented a slideshow on the results of two student-run surveys, one given to students and one to parents.

The surveys were anonymous and looked at five areas: Communication with parents, sexual activity, sexual activity with condoms, health issues and condom availability. A total of 399 students took the survey, representing 72 percent of the student population, and 146 parents completed the survey.

According to the collected data, 53 percent of students said they have had sex. Of those sexually active students, 70 percent said they engage in unprotected sex.

After the presentation, public discussion opened and people on both sides of the issue had the opportunity to stand up and express their positions on the proposal.

Several parents of LRHS students expressed their concern for student health and their support for free condom availability.

Leslie McConnell, of Naples, was one of those parents.

“I am supportive of offering students access to condoms in our nurse’s office,” she said. “We need to provide the care that kids need to keep them healthy and in school, and this will help assure that they can be successful in school and also in life.”

Doug Heusier, of Naples, who is against the proposal, stated that the answer is not condoms, but rather moral teaching.

“It doesn’t have to be from one religious perspective or another, but there has to be something taught in the schools that there is a responsibility for this beautiful thing called sex,” he said.

Heusier went on to say that he would like to see the issue taken out of the board members’ hands and placed on a referendum so all residents could have the right to vote on the issue.

Board member Philip Shane made the official motion to table the proposal due to a lack of policy. The motion was seconded by Richard Merritt and then voted on by all members.

Brad Boss of Casco said the proper adoption process for the condom policy has not been followed, so he was pleased with the outcome of the meeting.

“There was no written policy and you can’t vote on something that doesn’t exist,” he said.

The condom proposal will now head to the curriculum committee for further review.