ROCHESTER, NY – On January 26, the Rochester City School Board turned a deaf ear to hundreds of parents that have been urging them to reject a proposed policy that would allow school officials to distribute condoms to students.

New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms was pleased to stand with other allied organizations and individuals in this fight. The group consists of Rochester Parents United, New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, Place of Hope Pregnancy Resource Center, the Frederick Douglass Foundation of New York, Dream Again Ministries, Church of Love Faith Center and many other community and faith leaders.

The coalition contends that when schools distribute condoms, designed for the sole purpose of sexual activity, they are sending a conflicting message to teenagers.

Ernest Flagler-Mitchell, President, Rochester Parents United, reacted to the vote saying, “Rochester City schools saw a 52% graduation rate in 2008. In 2011 that number is expected to drop to 49 percent. Board members have a responsibility to see that our children are educated in sciences like chemistry and physics. It’s too bad some members of the board think that students can never get beyond biology.”

Rev. Jason J. McGuire, President, New Yorker’s Family Research Foundation, said, “As the Rochester City School Board weighed the long-term implications of this ill-conceived policy, I was hopeful that the Board would remember encouraging, not discouraging, parental involvement should always be the responsibility incumbent upon their leadership. Unfortunately for city students and their families, the RCSD failed to live up to that expectation tonight.”

“Our coalition began this campaign reminding Rochester that they’re better than this. Our teens need to be told that we expect more from them. Life will beat them down enough. They don’t need the expectations of elders in their lives doing the same,” said Rev. Marlowe Washington, Pastor, Christ Community Church.

Earlier this week a series of recorded videos with the theme "Rochester, You're Better than This" was released to raise awareness of the proposed plan. The allied organization's goal is to remind Rochester teens that they can have a better hope and higher dreams than to settle for secondary solutions when it comes to their sexuality.

The coalition contends that this will be a message they will continue to take to the City of Rochester, its parents, families and the Rochester City School Board.