AIDS GROUP SEEKS DISTRICT'S REVERSAL : INFORMATION ACCESS AT SCHOOL `LIFE AND DEATH' MATTER, MEMBERS SAY.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

Saying it's a matter of life and death, supporters of an AIDS education group want the Antelope Valley Union High School District to reverse a decision that banned the group from campuses.

The Catalyst Foundation for AIDS Awareness and Care was barred in January from speaking to students after the board objected to some of the group's information, such as using a dental dam or plastic sandwich wrap to protect against sexually transmitted diseases during oral sex.

``I think kids need to know as much as is possible for them to know,'' said Colleen Hodgkins, a parent with two sons at Quartz Hill High School and a Catalyst board member. ``They have to make intelligent, educated decisions because it can kill them if they don't. It's not just a matter of pregnancy or venereal disease. It's a life and death situation.''

Catalyst Foundation supporters who spoke at a news conference Wednesday to urge the board to reconsider the ban included a 28-year-old HIV-positive Lancaster woman, a 1986 graduate of Antelope Valley High School, who said she did not receive crucial information about AIDS until it was too late.

She married and had a son, who was diagnosed with full-blown AIDS at 14 months. Her husband, a recovered drug addict, and the baby have died.

``When I was in high school, there was no AIDS or HIV education. They didn't think we needed to know,'' said the woman, who identified herself only as Lorraine. ``I didn't think it could happen to me. Now I'm sick. That's why I go to the schools. That's why I'm so committed. I don't want it to happen to anyone else. It shouldn't have happened to me. I want to prevent somebody else's nightmare.''

Dr. Susan Lawrence, the founder and executive director of the foundation, said the group plans to make a presentation at the high school board's May 1 meeting, asking that Catalyst be returned to the schools with the proviso that parents be given a choice as to whether their children attend the presentations.

Lawrence also said she wants board members to view a Catalyst presentation and make the presentations available to parents who want to see them.

Samuel Mistrano, a field and legislative director with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said his organization would consider suing the district if it continues with the ban and ``interferes with students' right to information.''

Trustee Kevin Carney, who supports the ban, said the Catalyst group's presence on campuses is unacceptable under any circumstances. The district has health education instructors who can perform the same function, he said.

``I feel they have an agenda that goes above and beyond AIDS education. They support the homosexual agenda in the schools and promote illicit sex,'' Carney said. ``I don't think these people have any business on our campuses.''

Trustee Steve Landaker, who was not on the board when the ban was imposed in January, said until he hears more information, he is undecided.

``I feel our students need to understand and hear about AIDS,'' he said. But he added that he is concerned about the type of information, its content and how it is presented.

``I'm leaning toward in-house, controlled presentations by staff or somebody we hire,'' Landaker said.

The foundation, which provides medical and support services for people with AIDS and HIV, has been doing presentations at high schools since 1992.

Catalyst's AIDS education programs emphasize that the only 100 percent certain way to avoid HIV, the AIDS virus, is to abstain from sex and drugs, its supporters say.

But with girls and boys becoming sexually active at ages 15 and 16, teens need information about how to reduce the risk of HIV infection, the supporters said.

The Catalyst group was barred from speaking on campus after the school board discussed parent complaints in a closed session meeting. Two or three parents attended the closed session, but no one was present from the Catalyst group.

No vote was taken, but Carney and fellow trustee Sue Stokka have said it was a ``consensus decision'' that Catalyst be prohibited from the campuses, and administrators followed that directive.

Trustee Bill Olenick disagreed with the characterization of the closed session, saying there was no consensus. Trustee Tony Welch was not present.

Superintendent Robert Girolamo, however, said he had talked with Welch, who died later that month. The superintendent said Welch, Stokka and Carney did not favor continuing with Catalyst.