Movements in many other communities have been shoved aside. For instance, the Chelsea school system, run by Boston University, rejected a similar plan by a to 1 margin. And in Worcester, the school recently suspended students for passing out condoms to their peers.

"People in Worcester are calling to ask what they should do now," said School Committee member Henrietta Davis.

Blout said that in Lexington, where her father works, "they're real slow about it because there is so much opposition [to passing out condoms in the school.]"

John J. Bellwood, and all the other Rindge and Latin students interviewed, argued adamantly that other schools should provide the same condom distribution program, especially in the wake of the publicity surrounding Magic Johnson's announcement.

"Other schools should follow our example because we have to do something to slow down the spread of AIDS," said Bellwood, a senior. "If they don't learn from Rindge, then they'll have to learn the hard way.

Always the Leader

Rindge and Latin's pioneer approach in condom distribution should come as no surpise, according to Bert Giroux, the school's public relations director. He said the school, which currently enrolls 2100 students in grades nine through 12, has always made an effort to lead the battle against AIDS.

"We feel like we took a lead on AIDS prevention five or six years ago with AIDS Awareness Week, and we've continued to take the next logical steps to stay on top," Giroux said.

Blout entered the scene in the fall of 1988 as the only ninth-grader in the newly-formed AIDS Peer Leaders group that was trying to educate the student body about the dangers of AIDS and the necessity to practice safe sex.

"It's interesting to see the ignorance and irresponsibility of my peers," Blout said. "At first it freaked me out."

During Blout's sophomore year, the peer group decided that "the school's administration was moving too slowly on AIDS prevention." By early 1990, the group started passing out hundreds of AIDS prevention packets to students.

The distribution of the envelopes, which contained a condom, directions on how to use one, and an AIDS fact sheet, raised the ire of many school officials. But Giroux said the students had nothing to fear--and deserved praise for their initiative.

"They had legal advice that it was constitutional, and they proceeded in a sophisticated, professional manner," he said.

Meanwhile, another student group drafted a petition with 600 signatures asking the School Committee to allow the school to pass out condoms to its students.

The two efforts prompted the School Committee to form a subcommittee on the issue. Public hearings followed that spring, with input from faculty, students, a medical panel from the Cambridge Commission of Public Health and the general public.