Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Who is Taking Bullard Students Off-Campus for Birth Control Pills?
NANCY WEBSITE HEADSHOT 1
By Nancy Price, Multimedia Journalist
Published 6 years ago on
August 23, 2019

Share

Students at Bullard High School are being driven off-campus during the school day to pick up birth control pills in vehicles that aren’t owned by Fresno Unified School District and by people who don’t work for the district, trustee Terry Slatic says.
He’s concerned about the district’s potential liability in the event a student is injured while away from the northwest Fresno campus.

“I said ‘Bob, this is a gallon-sized can of worms.’ “Fresno Unified trustee Terry Slatic
Slatic emphasizes that the issue is not about birth control and students’ access to it. He is aware that California law allows minors to get birth control without parental knowledge or consent.
An Aug. 9 communication to the board in response to queries raised by Slatic provided background about the district’s sexual health education program but did not identify who is driving the students.
Student safety and the district’s potential liability are the overriding concerns, Slatic said he told superintendent Bob Nelson.
“I said ‘Bob, this is a gallon-sized can of worms,’ ” Slatic told GV Wire.

Teens Can Seek Rides to Clinic

Numerous local organizations and clinics offer family planning for teens. The Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission also offers transportation to its clinic for teens ages 13 to 19 through its Health Education and Recruitment Transportation Team, also known as “Teen Transport,” district spokeswoman Vanessa Ramirez said. Students arrange their own appointments without the involvement of school or district staff, she said.
Fresno EOC would be responsible for liability should anything befall the student while in transit, Ramirez said.
Fresno EOC spokeswoman Nasreen Johnson confirmed that the agency is responsible for a student’s safety and for any liability.

Uncertainty About Who is Behind the Wheel

Slatic said he first learned about girls being driven from the Bullard campus by people who aren’t district employees from a parent who contacted him in May and said she had discovered birth control pills while putting away her freshman daughter’s clean laundry.
When the mother asked her daughter about it, the teen said she was told by an instructor in a sex education class how she could obtain free birth control. She told her mother that she was signed up, and maybe a week later she was excused from class and driven downtown to a clinic.
Slatic said he subsequently heard from other Bullard parents who expressed the same concerns that people not on the district payroll were driving students to off-campus sites.

Protocols for Absences

Schools have rules and protocols that require parents to sign permission forms when students leave campus for field trips, and a yellow card or sheet kept in the school office lists the names of the people who are allowed to pick up students, he said.
But that requirement is waived when students are exercising their legal right to engage in confidential health matters, said Amy Idsvoog, a Fresno Unified communications analyst.
“This would be a situation where the yellow emergency card doesn’t apply,” she said.

“The students are not walking into the nurse’s office and saying, ‘Hey, I need to get hooked up with birth control. Can you get me get hooked up, can you make my appointment?’ ” — Fresno Unified communications analyst Amy Idsvoog

School Staff Involvement

Idsvoog said the decision to seek out birth control is completely up to a student. Science teachers and contractors from Fresno Barrios Unidos supply students with sexual health education information, including the names of clinics, but neither encourage or discourage students to sign up for birth control, she said.
School officials might allow the student to use a phone in the office to set up a clinic appointment but play no role otherwise, Idsvoog said.
“They’re not telling students, ‘here, go do this, go sign up for birth control,’ ” she said. “The students are not walking into the nurse’s office and saying, ‘Hey, I need to get hooked up with birth control. Can you get me get hooked up, can you make my appointment?’ ”



Students Get Help With Appointments

But Johnson at the Fresno EOC said health clinic appointments sometimes are arranged by school nurses or counselors, or even parents. Some parents are “super-excited” to learn that free transportation is available so they don’t have to take time off from work, she said.
For example, if a nurse is meeting with a student who thinks she might be pregnant, the nurse might serve as a referral source and call the clinic to set up an appointment for that student, Johnson said.

“But when they’re checked out and are utilizing our transport, we ensure that they’re safe. They’re with staff to ensure that they’re to their appointments, doing what they need to get done, and then right back to school, so they’re not missing class.” — Fresno EOC spokeswoman Nasreen Johnson
She estimated that the clinic sees 100 students a month from districts across the region during the school year. The safety of those needing a ride to and from the clinic is paramount.
“Our transport services ensure they are safe, if they are going to leave for services, and that they return promptly,” Johnson said. “As a parent, I would be concerned if my student checked out at 8:05 right after the bell rang in the morning, and then back in right before school (ends). I would have no assurance that they were safe.
“But when they’re checked out and are utilizing our transport, we ensure that they’re safe. They’re with staff to ensure that they’re to their appointments, doing what they need to get done, and then right back to school, so they’re not missing class.”

DON'T MISS

Elon Musk Reclaims Top Spot on Forbes’ Billionaires List

DON'T MISS

California Just Blew Its First Deadline for Voter-Approved Healthcare Measure

DON'T MISS

Trump Administration Halts Dozens of Research Grants at Princeton University

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Sheriff’s Pilot Takes His Last Flight as He Retires After 31 Years of Service

DON'T MISS

A Palestinian From the West Bank Is First Detainee Under 18 to Die in Israeli Prison, Officials Say

DON'T MISS

How Safe Is It to Walk to School? Fresno County Wants to Find Out

DON'T MISS

Baseball Is Back! How to Listen to Your MLB Favorites and the Grizzlies

DON'T MISS

Trump Says He’s Settled on a Tariff Plan That Is Set to Take Effect Wednesday

DON'T MISS

Auto Sales Surged in Anticipation of Trump’s Tariffs

DON'T MISS

Raid Or Rumor? Reports Of Immigrations Sweeps Are Warping Life In CA’s Central Valley

UP NEXT

How Safe Is It to Walk to School? Fresno County Wants to Find Out

UP NEXT

Lakers Hold Off Rockets With 6 3-Pointers Apiece From Dorian Finney-Smith, Gabe Vincent

UP NEXT

Athletics Bat Boy Stewart Thalblum Takes Down Drone in Left Field

UP NEXT

NFL Postpones Tush Push Decision but Passes Other Rule Changes, AP Source Says

UP NEXT

March Madness: It’s South Carolina vs. Texas and UCLA vs. UConn in Women’s Final Four

UP NEXT

Major Layoffs Begin at Health Agencies That Track Disease and Regulate Food

UP NEXT

U.S. Bank Executive Terry Dolan Dies in Plane Crash Near Minneapolis

UP NEXT

A Look at Fresno City College’s New $87 Million Science Building

UP NEXT

Central Unified Takes Additional Steps To Protect Undocumented Students

UP NEXT

Top Vaccine Official Resigns From FDA, Criticizes RFK Jr. for Promoting Misinformation, Lies

Nancy Price,
Multimedia Journalist
Nancy Price is a multimedia journalist for GV Wire. A longtime reporter and editor who has worked for newspapers in California, Florida, Alaska, Illinois and Kansas, Nancy joined GV Wire in July 2019. She previously worked as an assistant metro editor for 13 years at The Fresno Bee. Nancy earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Her hobbies include singing with the Fresno Master Chorale and volunteering with Fresno Filmworks. You can reach Nancy at 559-492-4087 or Send an Email

Fresno County Sheriff’s Pilot Takes His Last Flight as He Retires After 31 Years of Service

3 hours ago

A Palestinian From the West Bank Is First Detainee Under 18 to Die in Israeli Prison, Officials Say

3 hours ago

How Safe Is It to Walk to School? Fresno County Wants to Find Out

3 hours ago

Baseball Is Back! How to Listen to Your MLB Favorites and the Grizzlies

4 hours ago

Trump Says He’s Settled on a Tariff Plan That Is Set to Take Effect Wednesday

4 hours ago

Auto Sales Surged in Anticipation of Trump’s Tariffs

5 hours ago

Raid Or Rumor? Reports Of Immigrations Sweeps Are Warping Life In CA’s Central Valley

5 hours ago

House Speaker Johnson Fails to Squash a Proxy Voting Effort From New Moms in Congress

5 hours ago

UN Agency Closes Its Remaining Gaza Bakeries as Food Supplies Dwindle Under Israeli Blockade

6 hours ago

Hooters Goes Bust and Files for Bankruptcy Protection

6 hours ago

Elon Musk Reclaims Top Spot on Forbes’ Billionaires List

Elon Musk has reclaimed his position as the world’s wealthiest individual, according to Forbes’ 39th annual World’s Billio...

3 minutes ago

3 minutes ago

Elon Musk Reclaims Top Spot on Forbes’ Billionaires List

2 hours ago

California Just Blew Its First Deadline for Voter-Approved Healthcare Measure

Nassau Hall at Princeton University is in Princeton, N.J., Oct. 8, 2024. (AP File)
2 hours ago

Trump Administration Halts Dozens of Research Grants at Princeton University

After 31 years of service, Fresno County Sheriff’s Deputy IV and Pilot Michael Sill is retiring, having logged over 10,000 flight hours.
3 hours ago

Fresno County Sheriff’s Pilot Takes His Last Flight as He Retires After 31 Years of Service

Khalid Ahmad holds a poster of his 17-year-old son, Waleed, who died in an Israeli prison, that reads in Arabic, "The hero prisoner Martyr, mercy and eternity for our righteous Martyrs," in the West Bank town of Silwad, northeast of Ramallah Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP/Nasser Nasser)
3 hours ago

A Palestinian From the West Bank Is First Detainee Under 18 to Die in Israeli Prison, Officials Say

3 hours ago

How Safe Is It to Walk to School? Fresno County Wants to Find Out

4 hours ago

Baseball Is Back! How to Listen to Your MLB Favorites and the Grizzlies

Vehicles at an Audi showroom in Miami, March 29, 2025. President Donald Trump has said that tariffs would encourage auto companies and their suppliers to move to the U.S. (Saul Martinez/The New York Times)
4 hours ago

Trump Says He’s Settled on a Tariff Plan That Is Set to Take Effect Wednesday

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend