Over the weekend it became known that ‘welcome bags‘ containing condoms had been distributed to some Cabarrus county high schoolers. This violates state statutes and in response to the story breaking, Cabarrus’s Chief Communications Officer Ronnye Boone issued a statement.
A student group at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College hands out welcome packets to students at the beginning of the school year,” said Ronnye Boone, chief communications officer for Cabarrus County Schools, on Tuesday. “Some of those welcome packets were given to Early College High School students. Within those, there were condoms. They were not intended for Early College students. They were intended for RCCC students, and they were mistakenly given to Early College students.”
If they were intended for RCCC students, then what were they doing distributing them at a high school? Further down, Boone elaborates:
“It was not done by Cabarrus County Schools or the Early College High School or Rowan-Cabarrus Community College. It was done by a student group. … They were handed out to ECHS students in error,” Boone said.
“Error”. The only error was they were caught perhaps. Again, this is a weak response.
As it stands, this is acknowledgement that the school(s) allowed a group to either give out condoms knowingly, or worse, the school(s) had no idea what was being distributed.
Imagine a snack item in the bag that contained peanuts and some kid with an allergy got one? Hey, what if Bibles had been included in the bags? I bet this would be a national story then, right? GOOD TIMES.
This is what Boone said in the response to my FOIA:
“No condoms were distributed by Cabarrus County Schools. We understand that student groups at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College did distribute welcome packages, which included free samples of various personal products, including condoms.”
“various personal products”
Like what? Kids aren’t even allowed to bring their own aspirin on campus these days and this group is just giving “various personal products” out?
LL1885 
According to the CDC 46.8% of high school students have had sexual activity and 34% of high school students have had sexual activity within the last three months. Stop distributing condoms in error and start doing so intentionally.
Walt-in-Durham
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Dear Walt In Durham,
It’s against state statute to distribute contraceptives in schools. It is not the place of schools to override parental consent. Perhaps you should be addressing parents and students directly.
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Again, where are the Republicans who control the school board in this county? AWOL I presume. Par for the course with the GOP in this state.
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Having worked at an Early College, I can see how this could happen as an honest mistake. The Early College in Cabarrus, like many, is located on a college campus. It’s not readily apparent which students are community college students and which ones are high school students – they’re all attending many of the same classes together. The only real way to prevent this is to make all of the high school students wear big signs that say “I’m a high school student!!”.
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At no time did Cabarrus schools say these kids received these bags on the Early College campus. The report I received was they were given out AT the high school.
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The high school is on the college campus. Source: http://www.cabarrus.k12.nc.us/domain/1500
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Yes, I know.
The claim this happened at the Early College campus alone might not be correct. The bags may have also been handed out there, but the report I received indicated these items were given out at an actual high school.
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Again, I ask the question: How does this happen in a county completely controlled by Republicans? Do Republicans even know how to govern in Cabarrus County? Who is actually in charge here?
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Handing out the condoms was done in error. So, they were planning on going bareback?
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