BURLEY — Seventh- and eighth-graders at Burley Junior High School may soon have the opportunity to participate in an adolescence pregnancy prevention program that was suspended in 2007 due to lack of funding.

South Central Public Health District adolescence pregnancy prevention coordinator Adria Masoner said the Peers Encouraging Abstinent Kids program, which is federally funded and also known as PEAK, may be reinstated at the junior high school during the 2010-11 school year and could be expanded into the other Cassia County schools.

The program was implemented in the school from 2005-07 as part of a statewide governor’s campaign that included other efforts to curb teen pregnancy.

“The year it was stopped at the state level the pregnancy rates jumped in our district and county,” Masoner said.

Masoner said the evidence-based program uses high school students as mentors to teach younger students how to resist pressures to become sexually active and includes teaching refusal skills and delaying tactics.

The program teaches abstinence as the best choice but also offers information about contraception and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.

Cassia County School District Superintendent Gaylen Smyer said a letter would be sent out to parents informing them what will be taught during the classes. He said alternate assignments would be given to students who opt out.

Laurie Welch may be reached at lwelch@magicvalley.com or 208-677-8767.