Report: New York City schools failing on AIDS education

A report on New York City schools released Thursday shows that the city's schools are in violation of state mandates on HIV/AIDS education. The report, prepared by the New York AIDS Coalition and titled "A Call for Reform: Strengthening HIV/AIDS Education in New York City's Public Schools," found that city schools fail to provide the six yearly sessions on HIV/AIDS required by state law to students in grades six through 12. Students in kindergarten through grade five also are not receiving the five yearly lessons on HIV/AIDS required by the state, according to the report. "These grave inadequacies exist in the face of increasing HIV infections among youth," according to the report, which recommends that the school system update its HIV/AIDS lessons, employ well-trained personnel to teach the lessons, and improve oversight and evaluation procedures to better ensure compliance. Department of Education spokeswoman Eileen Murphy said the city is working to improve and update its HIV curriculum to comply with state guidelines and to make the lessons as user-friendly as possible.