KMS Students Speak Out

“What’s happening right now?” This is what many students that attend King Middle School are asking. The school is now in a controversy of whether or not the health clinic, that is located inside the building, should be allowed to provide young men and women with birth control. Some students strongly oppose this, while others support the move. I found that the majority of students that I talked to didn’t know how they felt about it. When we asked Logan R., a seventh grader in Windsor House, he gave us his opinion on the issue, “I think that its not really a big deal, and I don’t see why the media is making a big deal out of something that’s smaller than what is being portrayed on CNN and NBC. I don’t think the parents should be deciding whether a random kid that they don’t know should get birth control… I think the kids who it affects should make the decision, since it’s theirs to make.” As you can see many KMS students have their own opinions, and we encourage opinions to be expressed. Both Shae and I wish that the media would stop spinning the facts. The media simplifies everything in order to make everything more controversial. For example, they make it look as though Mr. McCarthey is the one making the decisions, not our democratically elected school officials. The media should be focusing on what our school does, not what a health clinic, run by the city of Portland, does.