A year ago, 18-year-old Kristina McKibben made waves at a Modesto City Schools Board of Education meeting by asking for wider classroom debate on teen pregnancy.

She said health teachers at Modesto High School took a tight-lipped approach when controversial issues came up and devoted only a week of their semester-long classes to human sexuality and AIDS education.

The board rejected her request to let guest speakers hold a discussion about pregnancy, birth control and abortion in a human relations class.

But the teen-ager's message seems to have resonated behind the scenes. Monday night, the board quietly approved a new course outline that says health teachers must spend at least five weeks on sex education.

"I definitely think that's a step forward," said McKibben, who explained that she broached the topic because she had seen too many friends have babies before graduation.

The new course outline looks a lot like its predecessor, which was approved in 1992-93, and says teachers should cover everything from nutrition to club drugs to first aid during the half-year course.

But it also doubles the amount of notification to parents that their children can opt out of sex education and includes a list of approved speakers who may give presentations in class.

It was on the board's consent agenda and approved unanimously, with a host of other items.

In the past, parents received one notice at the beginning of freshman year, saying that their children could opt out of the sex-education portion of health class.

Now, schools will send one notice at the beginning of the year and a second notice shortly before instruction begins.

The new guidelines include a list of 10 agencies and organizations -- such as the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency and Doctors Medical Center -- that may make classroom presentations.

Guest speakers from groups that are not on the list would be allowed if a principal deems that their presentations are appropriate.

Linda Erickson, director of curriculum and staff development for grades 7 to 12, said only a handful of parents pull their children out of class or object to guest speakers each year.

Samantha Phillips-Bland, director of family planning and teen pregnancy prevention for the Health Services Agency, served on a community review committee that helped draft the new curriculum.

She said requiring five weeks of straight talk about unwanted babies and sexually transmitted diseases is a step in the right direction.

"Some teachers were spending an appropriate amount of time on it, and some were spending three days," she said.

Schools must teach abstinence and stress that refraining from sexual intercourse is the only sure way to prevent unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

Phillips-Bland said access to contraceptives, which are available at several teen clinics run by the county, is important, too.

A recent study by the Public Policy Institute of California found that the San Joaquin Valley has more babies born to teen mothers than any other region in California.

Statewide, the teen birth rate reached a historic low in 2001, when there were nearly 47 babies born to every 1,000 teen-age girls. That was down from 73 births per 1,000 in 1991.

The 2001 figures show Stanislaus County with 55 births per 1,000 teen-age girls, San Joaquin County with 61 births per 1,000 and Merced County with 66 births per 1,000.

Stanislaus County Supervisor Pat Paul, who is a health teacher at Beyer High School in Modesto, said teen-agers cannot escape movies, music and locker room talk that encourage promiscuity.

She also said they are more likely to delay sexual activity if they have a clear picture of the consequences. And she predicted that students will not get five weeks of sex education unless the district starts monitoring health teachers.

"Some of the teachers are not comfortable with the topic," Paul said. "So they avoid it."

Bee staff writer Susan Herendeen can be reached at 578-2338 or sherendeen@modbee.com.