Politics & Government

Let's Talk About Sex... Finally

Nearly three months after a baby was thrown down a trash chute at Whitman Houses, a conversation about the birds and the bees is on tap for city schools.

It was a tragedy that almost everyone said could have been avoided. 

On May 22, 18-year-old Laquasia Wright of her building at Whitman Houses. Luckily, a superindendent found the baby boy, who was taken to Brooklyn Hospital and listed in stable condition.

The incident prompted questions about whether Wright knew about state's decade-old Safe Haven law, which allows anyone to drop off a newborn at designated locations, no questions asked. It also raised concerns about sex and reproductive health education for at-risk teens.

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On at least one of those items, the city is finally getting ready to act. 

The New York Times reports that the Bloomberg administration will mandate the teaching of sex education, including instruction on how to put on a condom and the appropriate age for sexual activity, for all middle and high school students starting this coming school year.  

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According to at least one Fort Greene resident reacting to the news on Wednesday morning, it was about time city schools stepped up and talked about sex.

"There are girls, and boys too, running around doing God knows what," said Vern Jackson, 62, who has lived in the area for over 25 years. "It's time that they got prepared for what's ahead of them."

Another Fort Greene resident saw the new sex-ed mandate as a way to reach at-risk African-American and Latino teens in places like Whitman Houses, where Wright spent most of her young life in a unit at 102 N. Portland Ave.

"Maybe if she had been taught about what to do, then maybe she wouldn't have done what she did," said Jessie Williams, 31, who lives at Whitman Houses.

Wright has been charged with attempted second degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child. Her next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 5 in Brooklyn Criminal Court. 


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