Class President Sacked for Prom Condom Giveaway
May 29, 2001 -- A class president who secretly stowed condoms in give-away bags at her high school senior prom has been stripped of her title and barred from speaking at graduation.
Lissette Stanley, the former senior class president of Blake High School in Tampa, Fla., tells Good Morning America that she was trying to help sexually active students, and didn't think she would end up in so much trouble.
"I thought something was going to happen, but I didn't think my speech was going to be taken away," Stanley says. But school principal David Best felt differently, and took away Stanley's title and the accompanying honor of addressing her fellow classmates at graduation.
Worried About Pregnant Teens
The gift bags distributed at the April 28 dance also contained several sentimental items: a photo frame, a candle with an inscription, and a poem, but Stanley snuck the condoms in when the prom supervisors weren't looking.
Before the prom, many students had asked Stanley if condoms would be provided. She considered putting them in a fish bowl in the bathroom, but another female student suggested the favor bags and Stanley agreed.
"I just thought I should put that in there because I thought the kids need protection," says Stanley.
Blake High School, a new performing arts magnet school, enrolls about 1,800 students, including about 430 in the senior class. By Stanley's estimate, 15 to 20 girls graduating in her class are pregnant, and approximately 10 girls are already moms.
Less than a dozen students had picked up the bags when the condoms were discovered. Teachers confiscated them and removed the condoms from the 400 other bags.
School Nixed Condoms Before
The school district has a firm stance against distributing birth control in school. In 1992, the activist group, ACT UP, sought permission to distribute condoms at the high school. The school board rejected the idea, arguing that it was not the appropriate way for students who need contraception to get it.
If a parent or student asked, they would be directed to appropriate agencies, such as Planned Parenthood, says Mark Hart, a spokesman for Hillsborough County School District.
The official position: the school should not be distributing condoms without proper counseling. The school provides information through its health and sex education classes and by spreading a message about abstinence, Hart says.
"We don't want to encourage students to be sexually active by distributing condoms," he says.
‘Let Lissette Speak’
Hart says that Stanley should have gone through the proper channels and asked the sponsors, the school board, and then tried higher authorities if they refused. Her punishment could have been worse, he says, adding that she could have been expelled. Her suspension from the class presidency will not show up on her record.
Stanley says she did not ask permission to distribute the condoms because she knew school officials would say no. But students have rallied behind her, putting up posters stating "Let Lissette Speak," and distributing a petition on her behalf.
Hart says the "fairly conservative" community has been split about the condom incident. But Stanley says her own parents have been supportive. And even though she can't give her speech at graduation, the ex-class president will still have her voice heard. A radio show that aired her story, the MJ Morning Show on WFLZ-FM in Tampa, will broadcast Stanley's commencement address the morning of the graduation.