'Gum Game' Causes Controversy in Mont. Co.

WASHINGTON -- Would you want your child chewing the same piece of gum as all of his or her classmates?

That actually happened during health classes at four different Montgomery County high schools in January.

It's been called "the gum game" and members of the group called the Rockville Pregnancy Center instructed students to take a stick of gum, chew it and pass it on.

According to school spokesman Brian Edwards, speakers said the game is supposed to illustrate the dangers of peer pressure and sexually transmitted diseases.

The exercise happened during 10th grade health classes, leaving many parents wondering where the health teachers were.

"A parent at Poolesville High School called the principal and told her that her child had participated in this gum game in class and was appropriately outraged and disgusted by the activity," Edwards says.

Edwards also says MCPS is trying to determine where the health teachers were while the game was going on, and why no one stepped in to stop the game.

So far, WTOP Radio has been able to verify that the game took place at Poolesville High School, Einstein High School, Damascus High School and Churchill High School.

The Rockville Pregnancy Center, which describes itself as an evangelical medical clinic, has now been banned from the list of approved outside speakers by the MCPS.

The group has not returned phone calls from WTOP Radio asking for comment.

The group had been on an approved list of outside speakers since 1998.

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