text:
California Parents' Preferences and Beliefs Regarding School-Based Sex Education Policy
Policy debates over the merits of abstinence-only versus comprehensive approaches to sex education are ongoing, despite well-documented public support for comprehensive sex education. Although parents are key stakeholders in the outcomes of these debates, their views have been less thoroughly considered.
A random digit dial survey of 1,284 California parents was conducted in 2006. Parents were asked about their sexeducation policy preferences, the importance of teachings elected topics at different grade levels and reasons for their preferences. Cross-tabulations and odds ratios were used to assess regional and other subgroup differences.
Overall,89%of parents reported a preference for comprehensive sex education, and11%for abstinence-only education. Support for comprehensive sex education was high in all regions (87–93%) and across all subgroup characteristics: race or ethnicity (79–92%), age (86–94%), education (84–93%), household income (87–92%), religious affiliation (86–91%), religious service attendance (69–96%) and ideological leaning (71–96%). Four types of reasons for preferences emerged: those focused on the consequences of actions, on the importance of providing complete information, on the inevitability of adolescents' engaging in sex and on religious or purity-based morality concerns. While 64% of abstinence-only supporters cited the last type (absolutist reasons), 94% of comprehensive sex education supporters cited one of the first three (pragmatic reasons).
The high levels of support for comprehensive sex education across California's diverse regions and demographic subgroups suggest that such support may be generalizable to communities and school districts both in California and around the country. Furthermore, ideological differences might be less important to the sex education debates than the distinction between pragmatic and absolutist perspectives.
Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2007, 39(3):167–175, DOI: 10.1363/3916707
Ongoing and sometimes rancorous policy debates at the federal, state and local school district levels focus on the relative merits of sex education that teaches abstinenceonly until marriage versus approaches that include instruction on contraception and protection against STDs for students who do become sexually active. At the same time, widespread support for including information on contraception and STD protection in sex education curricula has been documented among American adults, voters, parents, students, teachers and health professionals, nationally and in diverse regions of the country.1-6 Despite such support, much of the sex education provided by American schools is minimal and fragmented, with essential topics often omitted or inaccurately presented, especially those related to methods of contraception and STD protection for sexually active youth.7-10
The California Education Code supports the inclusion of contraception and STD protection in sex education curricula, yet implementation at the local school district level remains challenging. This study assesses sex education preferences among California parents—a critical and understudied population of potentially influential stakeholders.
The phrase "comprehensive sex education" is commonly used in policy debates and by the media to distinguish approaches that cover contraception and protection from those that strategically omit these topics. A more expansive definition of comprehensive sex education includes three key components: It provides complete, accurate, positive and developmentally appropriate information on human sexuality, including the risk reduction strategies of abstinence, contraception and STD protection; it promotes the development of relevant personal and interpersonal skills; and it includes parents or caretakers as partners with teachers.11
Although most American students receive some type of sex education by the time they leave high school,4 only about 5–10% receive complete and high-quality comprehensive sex education.11,12 Instead, largely because of federal funding policies over the last decade, a growing proportion of students have been receiving education that stresses abstinence-only until marriage, and omits medically accurate and developmentally appropriate reproductive health information.13-15
A national survey found that although 89% of secondary school students receive sex education at least once in school, only 68% receive information on how to use condoms correctly.4 About half of the students surveyed wanted to know more about HIV (47%), other STDs (50%), what to do in cases of rape or sexual assault (55%), how to deal with the emotional consequences of being sexually active (55%), how to talk to a partner about birth control and STDs (46%), and how to use and where to get birth control (40%). Fifty-three percent were aware that having an STD can increase the risk of getting HIV if one is sexually active—about the proportion that would be expected if every student simply guessed the answer.
Given the scarcity of comprehensive sex education in American classrooms, one might think that Americans do not support such education. Yet opinion surveys and other studies have consistently shown widespread public support: Eighty-two percent of U.S. adults in a nationally representative survey conducted in 2005 supported teaching about both abstinence and protection from pregnancy and STDs, and 69% supported teaching about the proper use of condoms.3 A 1999 nationally representative survey reported that 92% of Americans supported teaching about condoms in high school;4 another national survey from the same year found that 90% of adults thought condom use was an appropriate subject for 11th and 12th graders, and 58% thought this was appropriate for seventh and eighth graders.16 Other national and state-level surveys have reported similar results.1,2,6 Although parents have been polled less frequently than the general adult population, a 2003 representative survey of North Carolina parents found that 89% supported comprehensive sex education.5
This public support has a strong professional grounding. Most mainstream education, health and medical associations have formally endorsed school-based comprehensive sex education, including the Society for Adolescent Medicine, the American Medical Association, the National Association of School Nurses, the American Psychological Association and the American School Health Association.17-21
California's Sex Education Policy
The federally funded abstinence-only-until-marriage grant program, Section 510 of Title V of the Social Security Act, prohibits instruction in or promotion of the use of contraceptive methods.22,23 California is the only state to have consistently opted out of the program since its inception in 1996 (eight other states have subsequently opted out).
The Section 510 funding program is in direct conflict with the California Comprehensive Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention Education Act of 2003. This act, codified as sections 51930–51939 of the California Education Code, mandates that if a district chooses to provide sex education, these classes must commence by seventh grade and be age-appropriate, factual, medically accurate and objective, and must cover abstinence as well as all contraceptive and STD prevention methods approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Furthermore, these requirements apply to HIV and AIDS prevention education, which is mandated for all students at least once in both middle school and high school.
According to a 2005 survey by the California Department of Health Services' Office of AIDS, 85% of the state's adults support comprehensive sex education in public schools, whereas 10% support abstinence-only education.6 Another 2005 California survey found that 78% of adults think sex education programs should teach about abstaining from sexual activity and how to obtain and use condoms and contraceptives.2 This survey also found that 91% of adults feel that having sex education as part of the school curriculum is somewhat or very important. These findings are supported by a 2003 survey of California school districts, which showed that only a small proportion of parents opt out of classes for their 6th–12th-grade children.7 Seventy percent of districts surveyed reported an opt-out rate of no more than 1%, and 93% of districts reported an opt-out rate of no more than 5%.
In spite of model legislation and high levels of public support for the comprehensive approach, California schools still have not widely implemented such programs. Although 94% of the middle and high schools sampled in the school district survey reported providing sex education or STD prevention education, 88% violated one or more provisions of the state sex education code, and 48% did not cover all required topics.7 California Department of Education staff have found similar violations during compliance review visits with individual school districts.24 One justification they have frequently heard for the omission of key aspects of the mandated comprehensive sex education is fear of community opposition, together with the belief that state and national surveys showing high levels of support are not applicable to a district's unique community. This justification is consistent with concerns and beliefs reported by community stakeholders, including parents and health and education professionals. In a series of focus group interviews, these stakeholders overwhelmingly supported comprehensive sex education, yet most participants reported feeling intimidated by actual or anticipated challenges involved in bringing such education to their school districts.25
The present analysis examines the breadth, depth and motivational determinants of sex education preferences and beliefs among parents. Because of the size and diversity of California, this study was designed to allow for regional and subgroup estimates of parents' preferences, beliefs and feelings. The aim is to provide information that will be useful to policymakers involved in reviewing and developing state and local sex education policy, as well as to contribute to the sparse literature on parental preferences and beliefs regarding sex education.
The survey questions and sampling plan were developed between fall 2005 and spring 2006. The survey instrument and protocol were reviewed by the Public Health Institute's institutional review board and declared exempt. The protocol for obtaining informed consent followed standard practice for telephone surveys.
Interviewers were trained in spring 2006. Two rounds of pilot testing were conducted to assess and improve question wording and interviewer performance. This involved audio recording of 18 pilot interviews, each of which was reviewed by two researchers, who assessed potential issues in question presentation, follow-up and comprehensibility. Some questions were subsequently reworded or eliminated, and additional training was provided to interviewers as necessary. Data collection took place in the spring and summer of 2006, during which supervisors and study staff monitored interviewers and provided further feedback.
We conducted a list-assisted, random digit dial survey of California parents. The sample was derived from the population of all households in California, and was classified into five regions consisting of groups of contiguous counties organized by demographic similarity (North/Mountains, Central Valley, San Francisco Bay Area/Central Coast, Los Angeles County and South—Figure 1). The person answering the phone was asked the numbers of adults and children in the household; if a child aged 18 or younger answered, the interviewer asked the youngster to identify a parent in the household. If a parent was available, he or she was read the informed consent script and then invited to participate. Follow-up appointments were made if the respondent was unable to complete the interview at that time. Initial calls were conducted in English; Spanish-speaking interviewers called back respondents who spoke Spanish. At least 10 calls were made to consistently unanswered or busy phone numbers and answering machines.
A total of 1,284 parents completed interviews. An overall household response rate of 53% was calculated using the RR3 method of the American Association for Public Opinion Research.26 This method divides the number of completed interviews by the estimated number of eligible households called, which is estimated by a formula involving known eligible and ineligible households, and those of unknown eligibility. Phone numbers with follow-up calls not yet completed when a region's quota was reached were not included in the calculations. Our response rate is near the maximum that can be expected for rigorous large-scale random digit dial surveys, in which nonresponse bias is typically minimal.27,28
To enhance statistical efficiency for estimates within each region, sampling rates were higher for the smaller regions. To compensate for the resulting difference in Figure 1. California regions (and component counties) as defined in a survey of parents' opinions about sex education, 2006 selection probabilities, we used stratum weights in all statewide analyses that pooled data across regions. The resulting design effect attributable to weighting was minimal (1.13). For statewide estimates (N=1,284), 95% confidence intervals were plus or minus 2–3 percentage points; for regional estimates (N=253–262), plus or minus 5–6 percentage points. Confidence intervals for subgroup estimates were larger.
Measurement and Analysis
The primary survey question asked about a respondent's preference for sex education policy: "What do you think teenagers should be taught in sex education classes? (a) only about abstinence, that is, not having sex until marriage, (b) only about how to prevent pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted infections if they do decide to have sex, (c) both about abstinence and about how to prevent pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted infections if they do decide to have sex." We refer to these options as abstinence-only, protection-only and abstinence-plus-protection, respectively.
For most of our analyses, we combined the protectiononly and abstinence-plus-protection categories into one called comprehensive sex education. This categorization is consistent with the key policy debate distinction of including versus excluding instruction about how to prevent pregnancy and the spread of STDs for students who become sexually active. The simplified definition yields a dichotomous variable (comprehensive vs. abstinenceonly sex education), which is amenable to odds ratios and other types of categorical analyses.
Survey questions also assessed the importance of teaching about specific topics (regarding dating relationships, attitudes about sexuality, sexual intercourse, contraception and STD protection) at different grade levels. Other precoded questions asked how strongly parents felt about their overall policy preference and how important this preference was in their decisions of whom to vote for in school board elections. An open-ended question asked about the reasons for the stated policy preference.
Quantitative analyses were performed using SPSS 12.0. Cross-tabulations and odds ratios were used to assess regional, racial and ethnic, and other potential subgroup differences; statistical significance was determined by Pearson's chi-square test. (For expected frequencies of fewer than five, we used Fisher's exact test or, if computational limits were reached, the Monte Carlo approximation.) Subgroups with fewer than 25 parents were collapsed into other groups as appropriate. To assess the relationship between membership in each social or demographic subgroup and preference for comprehensive sex education, we calculated unadjusted odds ratios using each subgroup as a dichotomous variable. An alpha level of .05 was used to evaluate statistical significance, and only statistically significant odds ratios are reported. Qualitative analytic methods were used for the openended question on parents' reasons for their preference, and involved open coding of data to develop substantive categories. The first and third authors each independently coded a sample of 100 responses across the three policy preference categories. Differences were discussed and resolved, and a coding dictionary was developed. The third author then coded the remainder of the responses, and the first author reviewed these codes; any differences were resolved by the two coders.
Respondent Characteristics
A majority of the 1,284 sampled parents were female (75%) and aged 30–49 (67%—Table 1). The largest racial or ethnic subgroups were Hispanic (46%) and white (38%); 67% of interviews were conducted in English, and 33% in Spanish. Twenty-eight percent of parents had earned a high school diploma or GED, and 37% had at least a college degree. Household income varied; 35% reported income of less than $40,000, and 38% reported $60,000 or more. A majority of parents were born in the United States, and 30% were born in Mexico. Catholics made up 45% of the sample, and 19% of parents identified as born-again or evangelical Christians. A quarter of parents reported attending religious services once a week, and one in 10 attended more often; nearly three in 10 attended rarely or never. Thirty-seven percent of parents identified themselves as somewhat or very conservative, 27% as moderate and 24% as somewhat or very liberal.
Support for Comprehensive Sex Education
Breadth. Overall, 82% of the sample reported a policy preference for abstinence-plus-protection sex education, 7% for protection-only and 11% for abstinence-only. Thus, 89% supported comprehensive sex education.
Levels of support for comprehensive sex education were uniformly high across regions (87–93%), differing only within the expected range of random sampling error (Figure 2). In addition, large proportions of parents from all racial or ethnic groups preferred comprehensive sex education: 92% of whites, 90% of Hispanics, 89% of blacks, 82% of Asians and 79% of parents identified as other (not shown). Asian parents had reduced odds of supporting comprehensive sex education compared with all other parents (0.5), and parents identified as being of other ethnicity had reduced odds compared with everyone else (0.4).
Parents in all age-groups showed high levels of support for comprehensive sex education (86–94%); the highest level of support was among those younger than 30, and they were more likely than older parents to express such support (odds ratio, 2.0). Similarly, respondents of all education levels preferred the comprehensive approach (84–93%): The lowest level of support was found among parents with less than a high school education, and they were less likely than other parents to prefer this approach (0.5). Support for comprehensive education did not vary significantly across income levels (87–92%).
The level of preference for comprehensive sex education did not differ between born-again or evangelical Christians and others (86% vs. 91%), and it showed little variation by frequency of attendance at religious services. High proportions of respondents who rarely or never attended and those who attended 1–3 times a month preferred the comprehensive approach (95–96%), and these subgroups were more likely than others to prefer this approach (odds ratios, 3.8 and 2.8, respectively). Although both those who attended religious services once a week and those who attended more than once a week were predominantly supportive of comprehensive education (84% and 69%, respectively), they were less likely than others to prefer such education (0.5 and 0.2, respectively).
Levels of support for comprehensive sex education were also high among all ideological subgroups (Figure 3, page 171): Very conservative parents expressed the least support (71%), followed by those who were somewhat conservative (88%), while those who were moderate to very liberal expressed the most support (95–96%). Very conservative parents were less likely than others to prefer the comprehensive approach (odds ratio, 0.2), whereas both moderate and somewhat liberal parents were more likely than others to prefer this approach (2.5 and 3.4, respectively).
Depth. Large majorities of both abstinence-only and comprehensive sex education supporters (94% and 80%, respectively) reported having very strong or extremely strong feelings about the issue. Similarly, large majorities (91% and 69%, respectively) considered this issue very or extremely important in their decisions regarding school board elections. On average, abstinenceonly supporters reported stronger feelings about the issue and its importance as a voting issue than did supporters of comprehensive sex education; however, because of the much greater proportion of the latter in the sample, the majority of these strong feelings were associated with support for the comprehensive approach. Almost three-quarters of respondents preferred comprehensive sex education and rated their feelings as extremely strong or very strong, and nearly two-thirds preferred such education and felt that this was an extremely or a very important voting issue.
In addition, respondents rated the importance they attributed to the teaching of selected sex education topics; parents were randomly asked about instruction in either middle school or high school. Most parents thought teaching about avoiding pregnancy and STDs was very important (94%), with no variation between school levels (Table 2). A large majority of parents also thought teaching about avoiding sexual intercourse (85% and 71%, respectively) and having a healthy and positive relationship with a dating partner (75% and 85%, was very important at the middle school and high school levels; lower proportions of parents thought the topic of avoiding dating relationships was very important at either of these levels (48% and 34%, respectively).
Respondents also indicated the earliest school level at which they thought selected topics should be taught. Although support for the teaching of various topics depended on school level, at least 96% of parents thought that most of the topics—including contraception and STD protection, as well as abstinence—should be taught by the time students are in high school (Table 3). Fourteen percent of parents completely opposed teaching about homosexuality; this opposition ranged from 8% in Los Angeles County to 23% in the North/Mountains region (not shown). We also found regional differences in support for teaching specific topics at the elementary school level; for example, only 8% of parents from the South versus 20% from the Central Valley thought it was appropriate to teach about STDs at this level.
Although 11% of surveyed parents reported a preference for the abstinence-only approach, only 4% said that "information about birth control pills, condoms and other types of protection, and their role in preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections" should not be taught at any school level. Percentage distribution of respondents, by type of reason given for sex education preference, according to preference
Reasons for Policy Preference
We identified four clusters of reasons for parents' stated policy preferences. The first cluster comprised reasons that referred to the positive consequences of the preferred approach or to the negative consequences of the approach that was not preferred (e.g., "Because abstinence can help them avoid diseases, it's better that they wait" and "It is important that they know all the information so that they can protect themselves from disease"). The second cluster consisted of reasons that focused on the importance of providing full and complete information to adolescents (e.g., "Because information is power, they'll be able to make better-informed decisions" and "They should know both sides, both views, so they can be prepared for anything"). The third cluster encompassed reasons that referred to the inevitability of adolescents' eventually having sex (e.g., "You can teach abstinence, but human nature says they will sooner or later have sex anyway" and "You can't stop kids from having sex"). The final cluster included reasons based on approval or disapproval of actions, often with reference to religious beliefs or moral principles, but without any mention of potential consequences (e.g., "Because of my philosophy of life—I get it from the Bible—there is a moral absolute, and in my mind abstinence is right" and "It's up to the parents to talk about abstinence, and schools shouldn't be involved. That is a moral deal, and schools should teach only facts, not morals").
We combined the first three clusters of reasons into a category labeled "pragmatic," whereas the final cluster was labeled "absolutist." Overall, 88% of parents gave pragmatic reasons. Parents who preferred comprehensive sex education overwhelmingly provided pragmatic reasons (94%), while the majority of parents who preferred abstinence-only education provided absolutist reasons (64%—Figure 4).
Consistent with previous national and state-level studies on this topic,1–6 this study found that a substantial majority of California parents surveyed preferred approaches to sex education that included instruction on how to prevent pregnancies and the spread of STDs for students who decide to have sex. This support was high across all regions of the state, and across all subgroups examined. Furthermore, 96% of parents supported teaching about birth control pills, condoms and other types of protection by the time students were in high school. An equally large majority supported teaching about abstinence.
These findings show that survey respondents overwhelmingly supported approaches that were consistent with the state's education code on the provision of sex education. At the same time, they were nearly unanimous in opposing key components of the federal funding program that requires the teaching of abstinence-only until marriage and prohibits instruction in or promotion of the use of contraceptive methods, regardless of grade level.22,23
This survey found uniformly high levels of support for comprehensive sex education across the state's five regions, which exhibit considerable political and demographic variability. This finding, combined with the strong feelings and voting behavior considerations reported by parents, should allay the fears of some school districts that have not complied with the education code24 partly because of the perception that high levels
of support for sex education are limited to large coastal metropolitan areas. The uniform support across regions— along with the high levels of support across categories of race and ethnicity, age, household income, education, religious service attendance and ideological leaning, as well as self-identification as a born-again or evangelical Christian—demonstrates the breadth of support for comprehensive sex education in California, and the generalizability of these results to geographically and demographically diverse areas.
The popular sociological literature reinforces a common belief that the sex education debates largely involve a clash between conservatives and liberals.29,30 For example, sociologist Kristin Luker describes abstinence-only education supporters and activists as conservatives with religious-based opposition to sex outside of marriage, while describing comprehensive sex education supporters as hedonistic liberals having mostly factual concerns about sexual behavior.30 Luker's distinction might be viewed as representing a conflict between absolutist values (protected, trade-off–resistant, deontological values based on rules concerning behaviors) and pragmatic values (negotiable values focused on outcomes and subject to value trade-offs to achieve the best results).
The finding that 64% of abstinence-only supporters gave absolutist reasons for their support is not inconsistent with Luker's view. Nevertheless, high levels of support for comprehensive sex education among parents who identify themselves as very conservative (71%) or as born-again or evangelical Christian (86%) reveal limitations in equating religious conservativism with abstinenceonly support. At the same time, the finding that 88% of the full sample, including more than a third of abstinenceonly supporters, claimed that their policy preference was based on pragmatic rather than absolutist considerations further challenges the proposition that the sex education debates are best characterized as a clash between religious conservatives and hedonistic liberals, suggesting instead the importance of the absolutist versus pragmatic distinction.
We note several limitations associated with this research. The concepts and components of comprehensive sex education and abstinence-only education are challenging to describe in survey questions intended for parents of varying backgrounds. Some parents may have misunderstood these questions. Nevertheless, the consistency of our results across regions and subgroups, as well as with other national and state-level surveys of this type, suggests an acceptable level of reliability and validity among responses. Our decision to combine the protection-only and abstinence-plus-protection groups into the larger category of comprehensive sex education allowed us to mirror the key issue in the policy debates on this topic— whether to teach about methods of contraception and STD protection. We recognize that including protectiononly in the comprehensive category is inconsistent with some definitions of comprehensive sex education, which include abstinence instruction as part of a comprehensive approach. However, we believe that our grouping is consistent with the common use of these terms by policymakers and the general public.
In taking advantage of the efficiency and power of a large telephone survey, we collected the open-ended responses with a minimum of probing and follow-up questioning. We recognize that self-reported reasons for preferences might not provide a complete and unbiased explanation of the various factors that have influenced these preferences. In-depth questioning and probing about these topics with a smaller sample might provide additional useful information and insights. Furthermore, because moral judgments frequently arise from automatic cognitive and affective processes,31 some of the pragmatic reasons provided for preference choices may actually have been post hoc justifications for intuitively derived moral judgments. If so, the incidence of absolutist motivation would be higher than reported. Further research employing responses to randomized comparisons of controlled sex education scenarios might help clarify this question.32
The fact that three-quarters of the interviewed parents were mothers may have biased our results if their views differed systematically from fathers' views. However, we tested differences between mothers' and fathers' preferences and other beliefs, and none were statistically significant. For example, 89% of mothers and 88% of fathers preferred comprehensive sex education.
A further limitation is that California parents speak many languages, but resource constraints limited our interviews to English and Spanish. Thus our findings are not representative of the full parent population in California, and might underrepresent Asian American parents. Yet many surveys of this type are conducted only in English,1,3–5 and we conducted one-third of our interviews with parents who preferred to or who could only speak Spanish.
The findings of this study have potentially important policy implications. The breadth, depth and motivational determinants of support for comprehensive sex education found among California parents can inform future discourse on several major policy initiatives in California. These include the state's legislated comprehensive sex education standards, its large investment in supporting teenage pregnancy prevention programs that include comprehensive sex education and its decision to sacrifice millions of dollars of federal funding each year available through the Section 510 abstinence-only-until-marriage program.
These findings also should be illuminating to the school boards and administrators who are responsible for local school districts' compliance with California's comprehensive sex education code. In particular, this study addresses potential concerns about whether the broad support for comprehensive sex education found in national and statewide surveys is generalizable to specific communities, as well as concerns about the depth of feeling and the importance as a voting issue among supporters of comprehensive sex education. Similarly, states and school districts around the country can be informed by the consistency of the various aspects of support for comprehensive sex education found across California's diverse regions and demographic subgroups.
1 Alton F, South Carolina Speaks 2004, Columbia: South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2004.
2 Baldassare M, PPIC Statewide Survey: Special Survey on Population, December 2005, Public Policy Institute of California, 2005, <http:// www.ppic.org/content/pubs/survey/S_1205MBS.pdf>, accessed Jan. 17, 2007.
3 Bleakley A et al., Public opinion on sex education in US schools, Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 2006, 160(11):1151–1156.
4 Hoff T et al., Sex Education in America: A Series of National Surveys of Students, Parents, Teachers, and Principals, Menlo Park, CA: Kaiser Family Foundation, 2000.
5 Ito KE et al., Parent opinion of sexuality education in a state with mandated abstinence education: does policy match parental preference? Journal of Adolescent Health, 2006, 39(5):634–641.
6 Xia Q et al., Opinions About HIV/AIDS-Related Issues Among California Adults, 2005, Sacramento: California Department of Health Services, 2006.
7 Burlingame P, Sex Education in California Public Schools: Are Students Learning What They Need to Know? American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, 2003, <http://www.aclunc.org/ issues/reproductive_rights/asset_upload_file585_3512.pdf>, accessed Jan. 17, 2007.
8 Collins C, Dangerous Inhibitions: How America Is Letting AIDS Become an Epidemic of the Young, Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California, San Francisco, 1997, <http:// www.caps.ucsf.edu/pubs/reports/pdf/DangerInhib.pdf>, accessed Jan. 17, 2007.
9 Donovan P, School-based sexuality education: the issues and challenges, Family Planning Perspectives, 1998, 30(4):188–193.
10 Friedman L et al., Report of a Survey on Sexually Transmitted Disease Instruction in California High Schools, Sacramento: California Department of Health Services, 2003.
11 National Guidelines Task Force, Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education: Kindergarten Through 12th Grade, third ed., Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), 2004, <http://www.siecus.org/pubs/guidelines/ guidelines.pdf>, accessed Jan. 17, 2007.
12 Scales PC and Roper MR, Challenges to sexuality education in schools, in: Drolet JC and Clark K, eds., The Sexuality Education Challenge: Promoting Healthy Sexuality in Young People, Santa Cruz, CA: ETR Associates, 1994.
13 Darroch JE et al., Changing emphases in sexuality education in U.S. public secondary schools, 1988–1999, Family Planning Perspectives, 2000, 32(5):204–211 & 265.
14 Lindberg LD et al., Changes in formal sex education: 1995–2002, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2006, 38(4):182–189.
15 Committee on Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives, The Content of Federally Funded Abstinence-Only Education Programs, Washington, DC: U.S. House of Representatives, 2004.
16 SIECUS, SIECUS/Advocates for Youth Survey of America's Views on Sexuality Education, New York: SIECUS, 1999.
17 Santelli J et al., Abstinence-only education policies and programs: a position paper of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, Journal of Adolescent Health, 2006, 38(1):83–87.
18 American Medical Association, H-170.968: Sexuality education, abstinence, and distribution of condoms in schools, <http://www. ama-assn.org/apps/pf_new/pf_online?f_n=browse&doc=policyfiles/ HnE/H-170.968.HTM>, accessed Jan. 17, 2007.
19 National Association of School Nurses, Position statement: reproductive health education, 2005, <http://www.nasn.org/Portals/ 0/positions/2005psreproductive.pdf>, accessed Jan. 17, 2007.
20 American Psychological Association, Resolution in favor of empirically supported sex education and HIV prevention programs for adolescents, 2005, <http://www.apa.org/releases/sexed_ resolution.pdf>, accessed Jan. 17, 2007.
21 American School Health Association, Quality comprehensive sexuality education, 2002, <http://www.ashaweb.org/pdfs/ resolutions/Qualcompsexed.pdf>, accessed Jan. 17, 2007.
22 Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Application Guidance for the Abstinence Education Provision of the 1996 Welfare Law, P.L. 104–193, New Section 510 of Title V of the Social Security Act, Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1997.
23 Dailard C, Administration tightens rules for abstinence education grants, Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, 2005, 8(4):13.
24 Berry C, California Department of Education, Sacramento, personal communication, Feb. 26, 2005.
25 Constantine NA et al., Motivational aspects of community support for comprehensive school-based sexuality education, Sex Education, 2007, 7(4)(forthcoming).
26 American Association for Public Opinion Research (A APOR), Standard Definitions: Final Dispositions of Case Codes and Outcome Rates for Surveys, fourth ed., Lenexa, KS: A APOR, 2006.
27 Keeter S et al., Consequences of reducing nonresponse in a national telephone survey, Public Opinion Quarterly, 2000, 64(2):125–148.
28 Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, Survey Experiment Shows Polls Face Growing Resistance, but Still Representative, 2004, <http://people-press.org/reports/pdf/211.pdf>, accessed Jan. 17, 2007.
29 Irvine JM, Talk About Sex: The Battles over Sex Education in the United States, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.
30 Luker K, When Sex Goes to School: Warring Views on Sex—and Sex Education—Since the Sixties, New York: W.W. Norton, 2006.
31 Haidt J, The emotional dog and its rational tail: a social intuitionist approach to moral judgment, Psychological Review, 2001, 108(12):814–834.
32 Cushman F et al., The role of conscious reasoning and intuition in moral judgment: testing three principles of harm, Psychological Science, 2007, 17(12):1082–1089.
Author's Affiliations
Norman A. Constantine is senior scientist and director, Center for Research on Adolescent Health and Development, Public Health Institute, Oakland, CA, and clinical professor of community health and human development, University of California, Berkeley. Petra Jerman is senior research associate, and Alice X. Huang is research associate, Center for Research on Adolescent Health and Development.
This study was funded by a grant from The California Wellness Foundation. Additional funding was provided by the W.T. Grant Foundation. The authors thank Paul Gibson, Chris Berry, Carmen R. Nevarez, Mike Miller, Wendy L. Constantine, Veronica Raymonda, Gerald Sumner, Michael Kupkowski and the California Adolescent Sexual Health Work Group for consultation and review. Survey data were collected by Quantum Market Research.


text:
Occasionally, while driving along our
highways and byways, we have seen
bumper stickers that read "Honk, if
you love Jesus".
That slogan came to our mind recently
when we had to replace our transmission
and fuel pump on one of our cars.
When those two valuable components give
out on you, honking is about all that remains.
And now, we suspect , especially as we read the
scriptures, that Jesus wants us to do more than
just honk about him. In fact, doesn't he want us
to travel down the same road he is travelling?
All the honking in the world won't do us much
good, if we are travelling down the wrong road,
apart from our Lord and master, Jesus Christ.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
John Tomac
|Personal information
|Full name
|John Tomac
|"Johnny T", "Farmer John"
"Tomac Attack"
|November 3, 1967
Owosso, Michigan, United States
|5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
|175 lb (79 kg)
|Team information
|Current team
|BMX, MTB, Road
|Professional teams
|Yeti Cycles (MTB)
|7-11 Pro team (Road)
|Motorola (Road)
|Tioga/Raleigh Cycles (MTB)
|Giant Bicycles/Answer Manitou (MTB)
|Tomac Racing (MTB)
|Managerial team
|1998 onwards
|Tomac Racing (MTB)
Medal record
John Tomac (born November 3, 1967 in Owosso, Michigan) is an American former professional cyclist who competed from 1985 to 2005. He was a versatile rider who competed in multiple disciplines including; BMX racing, cross-country, road racing, trials riding and downhill racing.[2] Tomac became a mountain bike racing icon in the late 1980s as the sport began to develop beyond its formative years.[3] At the time of his retirement in 2005, he had won more mountain bike races than anyone in the sport.[2] In 1991 he was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame and, in 2004 he was inducted into the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame.[2][4]
Early career[edit]
Tomac first participated in cycle racing at the age of seven. He began to compete in BMX racing events in and around Michigan in 1975 and continued competing in this discipline into his teenage years racing against Michigan BMX legends Tony Carnes, Mike Chapman, and Tim Root. In 1984, at the age of sixteen, Tomac won the National Cruiser Class title with the factory Mongoose team. He turned professional in 1985 and spent his last year of BMX competition contesting events as a privateer.
Mountain biking[edit]
In 1986, Tomac made two significant decisions: he relocated to Southern California, and left BMX competition in favour of mountain bike racing. He continued to ride for Mongoose. By the autumn of that year, he had won his first two major mountain bike events: the Ross Fat Tire Stage Race in Massachusetts and the Supercross Mountain Bike Exhibition race held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mongoose marketed a Tomac Signature Edition model in 1987, which reflected his increasing profile within mountain biking culture. Tomac achieved a few more notable wins during that year, including a second win in the Fat Tire Stage Race and three National XC Series rounds.
In 1987, John Tomac appeared in one of the first instructional mountain biking videos ever produced, entitled The Great Mountain Biking Video[5] produced by New & Unique Videos of San Diego, California.
1988 brought Tomac national title-winning success. By achieving the highest combined points total from the National Off-Road Bicycle Association's (NORBA) Cross-country, Downhill and Dual Slalom championships, Tomac won the overall title of NORBA World Champion. He was ranked in first place in the Cross-country and Dual Slalom disciplines. The "World" status was a misnomer, however, as the NORBA championships were held only in the United States. The first true World Championships for XC and DH, sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale, were held in Durango, Colorado, in 1990 where John placed 4th in the downhill. John is well remembered for riding road style drop bars on his Yeti mountain bike at this race which was a noticeable deviation from the other riders. This equipment decision was influenced by his recent experience riding for the 7-11 road cycling team in Europe where he was under contract.[6] Tomac's results and rapid rise to prominence earned recognition from U.S. cycling magazine Velo News, which voted him the world's best all-round rider of 1988.[7]
Tomac retained his overall NORBA title in 1989, and also won the NORBA DH Championship for the first time. In a season in which he competed at the highest level on both sides of the Atlantic, he added the German and European XC titles to his collection. In 1990, he joined Yeti Cycles' factory MTB team and the 7-11 road team, embarking on a busy program of events in Europe and the U.S. To facilitate his road racing career, Tomac based himself in Belgium, and regularly traveled between the two continents to compete in major road and mountain events. Although he failed to win any of the three individual NORBA series, he won the overall NORBA title for the third year in succession.
1991 saw a change of teams: from Yeti to Raleigh and from 7-11 to Motorola. A stronger mountain bike season culminated in UCI World Championship success in Ciocco, Italy, with Gold in XC and Silver in DH. In addition to that, Tomac won two events on his way to the UCI XC World Cup title, and added a second NORBA DH title to his 1989 win. The following year, he finished in fifth place at the DH World Championship held in Bromont, Canada, and had to settle for second place behind Switzerland's Thomas Frischknecht in the XC World Cup rankings (though there were two event wins again). An accident in which Tomac struck an errant spectator in the final event at Mount Snow, Vermont, prevented him from outscoring his rival and retaining the title.
In 1993, Tomac was the runner-up to Germany's Jürgen Beneke in the inaugural UCI Downhill World Cup and lost out to Frischknecht again in the XC rankings.[8] This was to be the last season in which Tomac would finish in the top three in the World Cup, but he continued to achieve notable results in the World Championships. In 1997, five years after his last World Championship medal, he finished second in the downhill event at Château-d'Oex in Switzerland.
Between 1994 and 1997, Tomac would win three more NORBA titles – two in DH and one in XC – as well as some notable individual events such as the Sea Otter Classic and Cactus Cup. He officially announced his retirement from racing at the Sea Otter Classic in 2000, but would later make an occasional return to competition. In 2004, at the age of 37, he won the famous Kamikaze Downhill held at Mammoth Mountain, California.[9] Then, for good measure, he returned in 2005 and won it again.[10]
|Major MTB results by year
| NORBA Overall Champion
NORBA National XC Champion
NORBA National Dual Slalom Champion
| NORBA Overall Champion
NORBA National Dual Slalom Champion
German XC Champion
European XC Champion
|NORBA Overall Champion
| Gold medal - XC World Championship
Silver medal - DH World Championship
XC World Cup champion
NORBA National DH Champion
|Second place in XC World Cup
| Second place in XC World Cup
Second place in DH World Cup
| NORBA National DH Champion
Cactus Cup winner
Sea Otter Stage winner
|NORBA National XC Champion
|Silver medal - DH World Championship
|Mammoth Kamikaze winner
|Mammoth Kamikaze winner
Road racing[edit]
From 1988 to 1991, Tomac dovetailed professional programs in both mountain biking and road racing. He was the 1988 USCF National Criterium Champion and was part of the winning team in the USCF National Team Time Trial Championship in 1989. Tomac spent much of 1990 competing in European events with the Motorola team. Although he failed to win any major road titles in a season in which he entered more than 100 road and mountain events, his schedule included the Tour of Flanders, the Giro d'Italia and Paris–Roubaix.[11] Tomac ended his participation in pro-level road racing at the close of the 1991 season, choosing instead to focus on his mountain biking career.
|Major road results by year
|USCF National Criterium Champion
|USCF National Team Time Trial Champion
|2nd, Thrift Drug Classic
Team ownership[edit]
In January 1998, John Tomac entered into a business partnership with Manitou founder and suspension engineer Doug Bradbury, whom Tomac had known since the 1980s. Together, they founded Tomac Bicycles, and launched a range of three full suspension bikes later that year.[12] Tomac spent the 1998 season competing on his new prototype design in DH events.
The brand name was later acquired by American Bicycle Group, which in turn sold it to Joel Smith, formerly a brand manager at Answer Products, in June 2006. He relocated the company to Nebraska and set in place plans to relaunch the Tomac brand with a new model range in 2007.[13] Tomac remains actively involved in the company and the design of its products.[14]
Tomac's son, Eli Tomac is a professional motocross racer competing in the AMA motocross and supercross national championships riding for the Yamaha racing team. Eli Tomac is noted for being the first true rookie pro ever to win his professional motocross debut at the Hangtown raceway on May 23, 2010, winning the 2012 West Region, the 2013 250cc and 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2022 450cc Motocross National Championship along with the 2020 450cc and 2022 450cc Supercross Championship,.[15]
Primary sources[edit]
- John Tomac's History tomac.com
- MTB Hall of Fame mtnbikehalloffame.com
Notes and references[edit]
- ^ Tomac officially retired from professional competition in 2000, but continued to compete in selected events until 2005.
- ^ a b c "John Tomac at the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame". usbhof.org. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
- ^ "At Home With John Tomac". cyclingtips.com. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
- ^ "John Tomac at the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame". mmbhof.org. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
- ^ "Video Guide to Mt. Biking," American Bicyclist & Motorcyclist, March 1989, p. 79
- ^ MTB World Championship Archives[permanent dead link] uci.ch Retrieved on March 18, 2007.
- ^ MTB Hall of Fame Archived 2007-04-28 at the Wayback Machine mtnbikehalloffame.com Retrieved on March 18, 2007.
- ^ Men's Mountain bike World Cup[permanent dead link] uci.ch Retrieved on March 18, 2007.
- ^ 2004 US National Championship Archived 2007-04-06 at the Wayback Machine bikemag.com Retrieved on March 18, 2007.
- ^ 2005 US National Championship mbaction.com Retrieved on March 18, 2007.
- ^ Andreu, Frankie (May 8, 2014). "Racing My First and Only Giro d'Italia". Bicycling.com. Rodale, Inc. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
- ^ Tomac Forms Bike Company mountainzone.com, January 22, 1998. Retrieved on March 22, 2007.
- ^ Tomac Brand Licensed to Joel Smith[permanent dead link] bicycleretailer.com, June 19, 2006. Retrieved on March 22, 2007.
- ^ About Us Archived 2007-03-12 at the Wayback Machine tomac.com Retrieved on March 22, 2007.
- ^ Monday-conversation-eli-tomac2010.aspx Archived 2010-05-27 at the Wayback Machine


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Is there biblical ground for a divorce if one of the spouse is being abused physically? What do biblical scholars think about the New World Translation produced by Jehovah's Witnesses? Can extreme hyper-grace teaching lead to universalism? Listen live here 2-4 pm EST, and call into the show at (866) 348 7884 with your questions and comments.
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$ 150.00
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Instagram scammer profits off 14th Avenue fire tragedy
GOLDEN GATE ESTATES, Fla.– A scammer is now taking advantage of the tragedies from the 14th Avenue fire in Golden Gate Estates by stealing money from people trying to donate to fire victims.
The Perez family lost everything when their home was destroyed. Now, a criminal is impersonating Tracy Perez asking her friends for money.
"I absolutely hate this person and I dont hate," Perez said.
The scammer has created these fake instagram accounts:
"I had a friend of mine from Facebook message me and ask me why I blocked him. I had no clue what he was talking about," Perez said.
Her friend sent her screenshots of a conversation that appeared to be with her.
"I told him that's not me and that was after he sent a $500 electric gift card," Perez said.
Perez is very upset about the scammer taking advantage of their tragedy.
"I'd kill him, how dare you? You are taking from my babies, they lost everything," Perez said. "You're taking from my grandson being able to play a video game, his basketball even popped in the fire, I mean he has nothing!"
The post Instagram scammer profits off 14th Avenue fire tragedy appeared first on NBC2 News.
#capecoralmortgage, #capecoramortgagerates, #mortgagecapecoral, *Crawl, *Top News, fire, Golden Gate Estates, Local, News, scam


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Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi has recalled veteran defender Joseph Yobo for the March 5 friendly with Mexico in Atlanta, USA.
Yobo, 33, makes a return to the Super Eagles for the first time since the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa. The defender, who joined English side, Norwich City, last month from Turkish giants, Fenerbahce, has been given a chance to prove himself for a place in Nigeria's squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Midfielder Ejike Uzoenyi, adjudged the Most Valuable Player at the recently held Orange African Nations Championship (CHAN) in South Africa is included in the 23-man squad just as defender Azubuike Egwuekwe of Warri Wolves, midfielder Abdulai Shehu of Kano Pillars and defender Kunle Odunlami of Sunshine Stars.
There are also debut call-ups for youngsters Ramon Azeez (Almeria, Spain) and Belgium-based duo, Imoh Ezekiel of Standard Liege and Michael Uchebo of Cercle Brugge.
The match forms part of the African champions' preparation for the Mundial where they are housed in Group F alongside Argentina, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Iran.
Full squad
Goalkeepers: Vincent Enyeama (Lille FC, France); Austin Ejide (Hapoel Be'er Sheva, Israel)
Defenders: Elderson Echiejile (Monaco FC, France); Efe Ambrose (Celtic FC, Scotland); Godfrey Oboabona (Rizespor, Turkey); Azubuike Egwuekwe (Warri Wolves); Kenneth Omeruo (Middlesbrough FC, England); Juwon Oshaniwa (Ashdod FC, Israel); Joseph Yobo (Norwich City, England); Kunle Odunlami (Sunshine Stars)
Midfielders: John Mikel Obi (Chelsea FC, England); Ogenyi Onazi (SS Lazio, Italy); Ramon Azeez (Almeria FC, Spain); Shehu Abdullahi (Kano Pillars); Ejike Uzoenyi (Enugu Rangers)
Forwards: Ahmed Musa (CSKA Moscow, Russia); Shola Ameobi (Newcastle United, England); Victor Moses (Liverpool FC, England); Emmanuel Emenike (Fenerbahce FC, Turkey); Obinna Nsofor (Chievo Verona, Italy); Bright Dike (Toronto FC, Canada), Imoh Ezekiel (Standard Liege,Belgium); Michel Uchebo (Cercle Brugge, Belgium).
Confederation of African Football (CAF) News
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Zafira Robots Checking For Masks and Dispensing Sanitizer in India
In the Indian State of Tamil Nadu, COVID-19 cases have reached almost 40,0000 with 118 deaths. Many businesses are trying to stay open and at the same time keep everyone safe. One chain is turning to robots.
Meet Zafira. She comes from robotics company Zafi Robots. The robot has been deployed to textile stores in Tamil Nadu's city of Tiruchirappalli to help keep customers and employees safe from COVID-19.
Zafira Checks Temperature and Dispenses Sanitizer
When a customer enters the store, Zafira checks temperature, makes sure they are wearing a mask, and dispenses hand sanitizer. The voice-activated robot also keeps track of the number of people entering the store to prevent overcrowding. To keep things light and help model the store's clothes, Zafira can be dressed in a number of outfits.
"We've developed robots ever since Covid-19 broke out and lockdown was imposed, to help frontline workers. The robot has a complete intelligence system. It can also track number of people entering store at a time and send details to owners via email, daily," said Aashik Rahman, CEO, Zafi Robots.
According to Zafi Robots, they are focusing on mass production as they have received orders in bulk from various showrooms in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Check out our articles on a Miami skyscraper using COVID killing robots and Paris' Notre Dame in VR.


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Last night's Pesto phone-hack flap was over the fact that Coulson had his severance pay "Compromise Agreement" strung out such that there was an overlap with when he started spinning for Dave. It looks bad to be still taking the Murdoch shilling when you work for the man who wants to be Prime Minister.
It was almost a vintage phone-hacking day. Pesto got the leak, Guardian got cross and finally Tom Watson wrote a letter to someone. Apparently there must be a full investigation into all of this, however it seems these sort of delays are nowadays not so uncommon. Despite what Brillo and Yelland are saying about their respective terminations:
Brillo and Yello stopped taking the Murdoch shilling a decade or more ago. Guido can reveal that right now those journalists dismissed from the News of the World last month have similarly had their payments subject to a delay which means their own "Comprise Agreement" severance payments will not be settled until October 6. Certainly one way of keeping mouths shut until after Conservative Party conference…
Cynics might think that yesterday was a good day to bury a little bad news for News International. But that would be casting aspersions on Pesto's independence from his mate Will Lewis, News International's general manager. He surely would never leak anything to Pesto, his friend of two decades…
Incidentally, whilst we are on the subject, Coulson walked for the illegal activities which happened on his watch. Will the Guardian's Rusbridger do the same if his journalists get nicked?


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The best thing management can do is to create an environment which supports flow. Daniel Pink, author of the bestselling book "Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us" proposed three areas this environment should focus on:
Autonomy: If you trust your people regarding work (Theory Y), than give them enough space so that they can balance their skills with their challenges.
Mastery: With autonomy, you'll release energy within your people which they in turn use to master their skills and become even better and better at work.
Purpose: To direct the released energy, create a strong purpose (aka vision) which guides everyone in your organisation.
And all the rest will be handled by people themselves, no management is needed.


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Are you a shooting player? Are you crazy for the best paintball weapon? For this, the first thing needs to know what the paintball is? And what are its essential accessories?
A paintball gun or can say it paintball marker or a marker is a gun used for shooting, part of the sports of paintball. It is made of compressed gas, and after a process, that molded it into a gel capsule. It is a significant part of the paintball equipment.
Here we are representing the top 12 Best Paintball Guns Under $300 dollars. The guns, which contain quality and fantastic features.
The muzzle velocity of the paintball is approximately 90 meters per second. The most paintball fields have restricted speed almost near to 300fps. And the small areas may limit speed approximately 250fps.
The muzzle velocity can be increased, but it's unsafe and can create danger. If you hit a paintball in high velocity, it can damage the target. Especially for human skin, even if it is covered with clothes, the high-speed paintball can damage skin tissues and can cause injuries.
To avoid skin injuries and to protect body parts, there are all levels of equipment like Dye special edition thermal lens paintball goggles, safety goggles, Airsoft goggles, tactical safety Goggles anti-fog. Also, military glasses with three interchangeable Lenses, Full coverage goggles, Warriors chest protector, Warriors neck protector, and safety gloves, etc.
Best Paintball Guns Under 300
Below are our top rated best paintball gun under $300 list, with detailed reviews in 2021.
- Tippmann Cronus tactical paintball marker gun
- Tippmann Cronus Tactical Marker
- U.S. Army Project Salvo .68 Caliber Paintball
- Tippmann TMC MAGFED Paintball Marker
- Tippmann 98 Custom Platinum Series Paintball Gun
- Spyder Fenix Electronic Paintball Marker
- Tippmann A-5 .68 Caliber Paintball Marker
- Azodin KAOS 2 Paintball Marker
- Planet Eclipse EMEK 100 Mechanical Paintball Marker – Black
- Empire Paintball Mini GS Marker
- Azodin KP3.5 KAOS Pump Paintball Marker
- T4E UMAREX HDS .68cal High Power (16 Joules) Custom Double Barrel Paintball & Rubberball Marker w/Free 25 .68cal RubberBalls
Tippmann Cronus tactical paintball marker gun
The Tippmann Cronus is one of the best starter paintball guns in the game. Tippman is making the high-performance paintball guns which are cheap, top-rated, and best-automated paintball guns with high ratings and reviews. The Tippmann Cronus tactical paintball marker gun is the best paintball gun under $300, it has the following features.
Carrying handle
The best speedball gun contains a unique feature as it includes a carrying handle upside body of the gun. The carrying handle can be easily separated through its two screws. Carrying handle is to make the shooting point, the scope, or can say a red dot. There is a hole in the center of this handle to fit the red dot scope on it. It works as a riser to lift the scope of the red dot. So that you can see your target easily.
Military Simulation Body
The body of this high-performance paintball gun is of Milsim simulation body; it is not made of any steel or iron. A durable, affordable gun under $300 can give you complete satisfaction as of any completely automated paintball gun can.
Collapsible stock tan
This best paintball gun under $300 has an extra feature called stock tan. To support and to make it easier to hold the gun for a long time, you can put a stock tan after removing the back cover to fix the stock tan on the gun. You can say it as a collapsible stock tan that if you want to go with this setup, you can put and remove it by your own choice
The barrel is the front part of the gun from where the paintball passes. A fixing suppressor is covering the index section of it. Just fix the suppressor covering and move round to fix it on the gun. Now the next step just put a mock silencer in it and move it like a screw to fit it in the barrel. By moving the barrel on the right side, you can remove the mock silencer.
There is a screw in the center of the handguard to make it tight that makes a grip on the gun. It is the basic feature that Tippman's probably has all fifteen guns. It is made of high quality molded rubber grips that make it soft and lightweight.
- Semi-automated
- Affordable
- Made by soft and high molded rubber grips
- High grip carrying handle
- Collapsible stock tan
- Military simulation body
- No cons are available.
Tippmann Cronus Tactical Marker
Tippman is the top-rated company for making paintball guns, whether it is tactical or simple. The Tippmann's guns or markers shoot very well and accurately. They are durable and affordable too. The semi-automatically working guns are getting 4.5 stars out of 5. The best of Tippman's Cronus tactical markers comes with a bunch of accessories. The Best paintball gun under $300 has high quality molded rubber grips that are used to enhance its quality.
It is a semi-automatic best paintball gun. That automatically ready the paintball to make the next shoot. It works like an auto-loader to make the next shot in time with the help of a paintball loader.
.68 caliber paintball marker
Tippmann Cronus Tactical Marker contains Milsim styled .68 caliber scenario. That featured its high quality with low maintenance. Its construction is extremely lightweight with a composite body. It includes multiple Picatinny rails.
Stock tan
It contains a removable stock tan. Stock tan includes four steps to make the tan long as you need or required to put on your shoulder with ease and comfort. You can easily remove it by the backside of the gun. Just move it right side and round it; after you will separate it, just close the cover of the backside of the gun.
Mock silencer
It has the feature of the mock silencer. You can fix the mock silencer by round its right side and fix it on the barrel with an excellent grip. And if you do want to, then you can remove it from the barrel.
- Lightweight
- .68 caliber paintball
- Mock silencer
- Semi-automatic gun
- Removable stock tan
- It is very accurate and easy to clean
- Reliable and affordable as it's under $300
- No cons are available.
Tippmann TMC MAGFED Paintball Marker
TMC is the platform for Tippmann to make it very successful. They are affordable. It is the most famous paintball gun ever. As these guns are reliable, durable, and super easy to use, nothing goes wrong. The significant difference to use the Tippmann TMC MAGFED marker is to compare Tippmann's tactical versions of paintball just the way to take the paintballs. The TMC has both options of hopper and magazine. So, The Best paintball gun under $300 seems to be a fully automatic paintball marker.
Magfed or Hopper
TMC MAGFED paintball has both options of hopper and magazine. You can choose a hopper or a magazine that you like most. It is very simple to avail of any choice. There is a screw-on upside of the gun. To put the hopper upside, just open the screw and put off the MAGFED easily. Open the cover and fix the hopper in a few seconds.
The same if you want to MAGFED, then you first need to remove the hopper. Then open the handgrip by opening the screw and put the Magfed inside and again tight the screw.
It has a comfortable scope on the scope side of the marker. Scop has different stopping points by which you can make it shorter or longer as per your need. It is adjustable.
Comfortable trigger frame
It has a super comfortable Trigger frame area with soft rubberized grip and finger grooves cutoffs that make it great comfort to use. Comfortability is a significant trait to buy anything. The whole things of Tippmann are super composite.
Fire/safe switch
It also has a paintball fire switch at the upside of the trigger frame. A high-performance gun also has a safety button. You can either on it if you want to shoot in your paintball game tournament.
Weirdly lightweight
It is made of a Military Simulation body, which is of superplastic material. This makes it weirdly lightweight. The weight is a significant part of the trait of comfortability. Due to its lightweight specification, it is getting more famous in adults and kids.
- You can use Hopper or Magazine too
- Durable, comfortable, and long-lasting
- Paintball Fire on/off switch
- Weirdly lightweight
- Comfortable trigger frame
- Scope with different stopping points
- Affordable
- Easy to use
- No cons are available.
Tippmann 98 Custom Platinum Series Paintball Gun
Tippmann? The best selling brand for guns ever! Tippmann 98 custom platinum series paintball gun is the best, most popular gun in all of the paintball gun series. This gun is reliable, durable, and customizable. This Best paintball gun under $300 has the following features.
Castle Aluminum body
The main middle body of the gun is really strong, as it is made of castle aluminum stuff. That's why it is the most durable gun. Some parts of the gun are made of plastic; these are for grip, elbows, and the trigger are of plastic material, but they will never break.
Split receiver design
The best gun ever has Split receiver design. The gun is also accepting the electronic upgrade. So if you want to buy the electric port, it contains a frame in the trigger set to allow the electronic upgrades.
Stainless steel gas line
Stainless steel gas line power tube design contains a locking gas line that secures the valve in the right place that would not rust or break.
ACT(Anti Chop Technology)
This gun deals with the ACT version. ACT(Anti Chop Technology) ensures the accuracy of paintball with less barrel cleaning, and it also helps to eliminate the chopping or to break the paintball. It maintains the velocity of the paintball after the shot.
- Aluminum body
- Stainless steel gas line
- Anti Chop Technology
- Split receiver design
- Customizable, and reliable
- Durable and affordable
- No cons are available.
Tippmann U.S. Army Project Salvo .68 Caliber Paintball
Are you a beginner to use a paintball gun? Are you searching for a flexible, durable paintball gun? Here for you is the right choice!
The Best paintball gun under $300, Tippmann U.S Project Salvo .68 Caliber paintball is a Tactical edition gun, based on 98 custom setup, has a high-performance barrel, stainless steel gas Line would not be rotten or break; has four Picatinny rails for the purpose of customization.
All body of this best U.S Army project salvo .68 paintball gun has the aluminum body. This feature enhances its durability as the aluminum body is the symbol of a strong body of any product that lasts.
The barrel is the part from where your shooting paintball comes out and takes the target. It has 12 inches 98 custom barrel with the massive threading, in the end, a quiet thick barrel as compared to other market barrels. So if you want to fit a barrel that has a different diameter, then it quiet be a little bit loose to fit in the mock.
Folding Scope
The gun has the feature to edit the scope. The scope has six levels. You can set your required level of scope that fits you. It also has a folding option. You can either use or can fold the barrel to make it small.
Cocking mechanism
There is also a cocking mechanism with a safety lock system. You can put a lock to trigger through the lock system, while you want to put a loaded paintball gun or not shoot in any condition.
- The scope is foldable with six positions
- Easy to carry and use for beginners
- Cocking mechanism with safety
- Great for beginners
- .68 caliber paintball with four Picatinny rails
- Most durable due to aluminum body
- Affordable
- No cons are available.
Spyder Fenix Electronic Paintball Marker
Spyder Fenix is the top mid-ranged gun at a low price as compared to other guns in the market for 20 years. With the low price, it gives high performance and solid guns that enhance its popularity more and more. It is an electronic marker. The best Spyder Fenix, the best paintball gun under $300, is an electronic Paintball Marker, this edition has all the properties that expansive and fully automated paintball guns have. This best paintball gun under $300 has the following features.
There are three modes. Semi-automatic, Millennium, and PSP. You can convert on any mode at the same time by pressing a touch button, placed on the backside of the grip handle.PSP the fastest mode.
If you need to buy a different sort of barrel, then the Spyder barrel is a good option. As it is an 11-inch Micro Horne barrel with spider thread. It works fine in accuracy and performance.
A smaller profile setup gun with lightweight feature
It is 15% smaller than the Fenix's other guns as it has a smaller profile setup paintball gun that makes it easy to hold it. This gun is 25% lightweight as compared to the other Fenix's guns.
Velocity and battery
Velocity about 275-280 feet per second. A gun regulator on the back can adjust the velocity by turning it clockwise or anti-clockwise. It can throw 25 balls per second. It has a port for charging. A fast and long-lasting Spyder 9.6v Rechargeable Battery.
Eko Valve system
It has a unique Eco valve system that 1600 shots per 20 oz by CO2 tank that's amazing, and the other technology does not contain this number of shots. While the other standard guns can shoot 800 shots without this technology.
- Semi-automatic
- Ramp Millennium
- Ramp PSP
- Eco valve system
- Long-lasting battery
- Smaller profile setup paintball gun
- No cons are available.
Tippmann A-5 .68 Caliber Paintball Marker
Tippmann is a top-ranked industry in the making of high-performance paintball markers or guns, the best paintball guns under $300, as its guns are durable, reliable, innovative, and affordable. The new innovative best gun Tippmann A-5 .68 Caliber Paintball marker is getting more reviews and is famous for its amazing features.
Aluminum body and Cyclone feed system
Tippmann A-5 caliber paintball has an aluminum body that makes it strong, durable, and lightweight. It also has a cyclone feed system by which you can shoot 15 balls per second without batteries.
Low-profile hopper
It has a low profile 200-round, wide-mouth hopper that ensures the game for a long duration at a time. The gun is also customizable.
Standard barrel and cocking mechanism
It has an Aluminum barrel with 8.5 inches, and it is a very generic barre that improves accuracy and performance. It is suitable for people who are starters. The cocking mechanism is on the side of the barrel.
Selector switch
A selector switch is on the side so that you can rotate up to a fire position, or you can switch it to a safe position.
- Two years manufacturer's warranty
- 200-round low-profile hopper
- Selector switch to fire or safe positions
- Cyclone feed system
- Aluminum body
- 8.5 inches standard barrel
- No cons are available.
Azodin KAOS 2 Paintball Marker
Azodin is a new appearance in the industry of paintball guns and accessories. It is offering its paintballs with the latest specifications at a reasonable price. Anyone can join the paintball sports field with a low budget. Azodin Kaos 2 Paintball Marker is the best paintball gun under $300, coming on the top-ranking paintball because of its following features.
Semi-automatic and velocity adjuster
It is a semi-automatic mechanical paintball gun, as it does not contain any battery or modes. Its parts are made of metal. It is effortless as it does not contain any fancy barrels and vessels. It has a velocity adjuster on the back; you can round it to adjust the velocity.
micro -honed barrel
It has a 12 inches micro honed barrel, with ten pored holes. It has a diamond cut in between the barrel, which makes its look like a two-piece, but actually, it's one piece. Also, it ensures the accuracy and performance of the gun.
Clamp for feed neck
It has a clamp for the feed neck that has a set screw, tightening the screw down will lockdown that you put inside there. It is effortless to put out and clean.
- Fully semi-automatic
- Velocity adjuster
- Solid-body due to metal material
- Twelve inches micro honed barrel
- Clamp for feed neck
- Lightweight
- Durable, reliable
- Affordable with reasonable price
- No cons are available.
Planet Eclipse EMEK 100 Mechanical Paintball Marker – Black
Planet Eclipse has over 26 years of experience in making outstanding and high-performance paintball guns. The newest Planet Eclipse EMEK 100 Mechanical Paintball Marker, the best paintball gun under $300, is getting famous due to its luxurious compatible features.
Planet Eclipse EMEK 100 mechanical paintball marker is a semi-automatic gun. It is a genuine, entry-level gun, especially for starters. It does not contain an electronic system because it is a mechanical gun, also does not need any batteries.
It has a basic barrel, approximately a ten inches basic barrel. It has four pored holes in a startup; these are only for a fancy look. It ensures the accuracy and performance of paintball as it eliminates the chances of breaking up the balls while passing through it.
Power feed neck
With a clamp, this mechanical gun has a power loader with a power feed neck on the top. You can adjust any power loader, put on it, and fix it. It has a locking level feed neck.
Fire/safety button
The gun also has a fire/safety button near to the up-side of the trigger. There is written 'F' and 'S' around the button. That indicates F for fire and S for safety.
- A basic simple and smooth barrel
- Power feed neck with grip clip
- Fully semi-automatic
- Does not need batteries
- fire/safety button
- Durable and easy to use and clean
- No cons are available.
Empire Paintball Mini GS Marker
Empire markers is a top-ranked company in the manufacturing of high-performance paintball guns, the best paintball gun under $300. The Empire tournament markers are representing two sorts of markers. One is Empire MINI and the other Empire AXE. Both are outstanding in their performance. The best Empire Paintball Mini GS Markers are on top due to the following features.
Barrel and battery
It has twelve inches, one-piece barrel with a lot of pored holes all around on it. An angle battery in the foregrip operates this gun. Under the trigger, on the foregrip, it has a programming board there. You can change different modes through this programming board.
Clamping feed neck
The GS mini paintball gun has locking and clamping feed neck on the top. You feed the hopper by opening the screws and then fix the hopper and fix it by locking the clamp. That allows us to put and fix on it hoppers from many companies.
Velocity Gage
A unique feature that this MINI GS marker has is the velocity gage works through the ASA regulator. You can change the velocity by moving the velocity round screw that is placed on the backside of the gun. You can turn on and off the velocity through the ASA regulator lever. This also enables you to engage or dis-engage the air system. Just never let your gage to cross 200 marks. Because it will over pressurize your gun. This gun is fully programmable.
- Locking clamping feed neck
- Semi-automatic
- Twelve inches one-piece barrel
- Operated by angle batteries
- Velocity gage
- ASA regulator lever
- Gun is fully programmable
- No cons are available.
Azodin KP3.5 KAOS Pump Paintball Marker
Azodin KP3.5 is the best paintball gun under $300, is the third generation in new and high-performance levels in the industry of paintball guns with professional high-end. The best Azodin KP3.5 KAOS Pump Paintball Marker is getting top-ranked due to the following features.
Two-barrel pack and Air on/off-hook
KP3.5 marker has fourteen inches smooth, simple two-barrel packs (.685 and .681). It has aired on/off-hook under the
Dual pump roads
It has dual pump rods, the pump stuff of the gun is smooth, soft, and flexible in all ways. As it contains the stainless steel rods that make it considerably smoother.
Clamping feed neck
It has a clamping feed neck. This feed neck has screws on its sides with a fixing hook. Put the hopper or any loader that you want on it, tighten the screws, and close the grip hook to fix the hopper. You can use any sort of hoppers and fix them quickly on it.
- Fourteen inches two-barrel pack
- Easy to replace parts if anything goes bad
- Clamping feed neck with a grip hook
- Flexible dual pump rods
- Air on/off-hook
- Durable and reliable
- Affordable in less budget
- No cons are available.
T4E UMAREX HDS .68cal High Power (16 Joules) Custom Double Barrel Paintball & Rubberball Marker w/Free 25 .68cal RubberBalls
T4E, as it stands for 'Training for engagement', has a new Umarex series of high-end training weapons that deals with paintballs, rubber balls, and chalk balls. The new best T4E Umarex HDS .68 High-power custom double-barrel paintball and rubber ball marker is the right choice for paintball players. This best paintball gun under $300 has the following amazing features.
It is a double-barrel gun. You can enjoy shooting either right barrel or by left-barrel. And also you can shoot from both barrels at once.
Barrel selector hook
It has a barrel selector hook placed on the starter of the barrels. If you turn the hook at the right side, you will shoot the fire from the right barrel. Similarly, if you select the left barrel, then you will use the left barrel to shoot. But if you put it in the middle of both barrels, you will use both barrels to fire.
Pop-up barrels and shell loading
It has an underneath the button. When you press the button, the barrels pop up, and you can load your paintballs directly into it. It does not have any shell loader. You dont need to load any shell and to load the shell on the gun. You will directly load the shells into it through lower underneath the barrel pop-up button.
The velocity will be lower if you fire both barrels at once. Because it uses the same amount of gas to push the paintball. If you choose one barrel, the velocity will get high. The velocity setup button is on the back of the gun. You can select the required velocity by moving it.
- Double-barrel gun
- Barrel selector hook
- No need of shell loader
- Direct shell loading
- Durable and reliable
- Affordable
- Velocity divides if you choose a double barrel option.
There are hundreds of paintball markers or guns that are in the market. From them, any company that earns a name and becomes most popular among people is because of its reasonable price, durability, flexibility, durability, and different innovative features. Tippmann, Spyder Fenix, and Azodin, the best guns under $300, are top-ranked companies due to their enhancing features and wide range of paintball guns.
Q1. From where can I change the velocity of the gun?
Ans. At the back end of the gun, it contains the velocity button. You can change velocity through it.
Q2. Is the U.S Army Project Salvo an electronic gun?
Ans. No, it is not because it is a semi-automatic gun.
Q3. How many modes does the Spyder Fenix paintball gun have?
Ans. Three modes. Semi-automatic, Millennium, and PSP.
Q4. Does the Tippmann A-5 .68 Caliber Paintball Marker contain Aluminum body?
Ans. Yes, it is made of Aluminum body.
Q5. What will be the effect on velocity if I choose both barrels of Azodin KP3.5 KAOS Pump Paintball Marker?
Ans. The velocity will get low because the gas pressure will divide into both barrels.
Buying Guide
The first thing to check in any paintball gun is its basic body material. Whether it is of metal, aluminum, or plastic. Some guns are made of entirely plastic bodies, some are of aluminum, and some are of metal. But many paintball guns are a mixture of these three materials. Metal and aluminum are signs of sturdy and durable products. So buy the weapon that has the most aluminum and metal body with the least plastic parts.
The lightweight gun gets more value and appreciation as compared to a heavy one. If you buy a fancy gun, but it contains heavyweight, it will make you get tired soon during your play. And you will not enjoy your entire game with ease. So just check out the weight of the gun.
You should read the specifications of the product from the box or any search engine. There are many reviews of any gun that you want to buy on different platforms of search engines. By it, you will know whether the gun is automatic, semi-automatic, electric, or have any unique feature.
Durability and reliability
Durability means how long the product will last. The material and features of the gun gives you an idea about its durability and reliability.


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- El Paso Independent School District
- Homepage
EPISD is third in state for high-performing schools
(EL PASO INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT -- Aug. 29, 2018) — The El Paso Independent School District has the most high-performing schools in the region and is third in the state for districts with schools earning all available distinctions given by the Texas Education Agency this year.
New figures released by the TEA show EPISD has 11 campuses that earned all available distinction designations available to them during the 2018 accountability ratings period. The distinctions show students in those campuses are performing at elevated levels in all tested areas, and show academic growth that puts them on track to be college and career ready by the time they graduate high school.
"Our focus on Active Learning has helped us reach unprecedented goals in student outcomes," said Superintendent Juan Cabrera. "EPISD is one of the best school districts in the state, and our students and teachers are showing that innovation in the classroom works."
In EPISD, 11 schools earned all academic distinctions. Those schools are: El Paso, Silva Health Magnet and Chapin high schools; Wiggs Middle School; and Hughey, Lamar, Milam, Collins, Cielo Vista, Polk and Green elementary schools.
EPISD has the most schools with all available distinctions in El Paso. Only two school districts – Houston and Dallas ISDs — have more schools with all distinctions in the state.
"Earning one or several campus-level distinctions is notable and should be applauded by a community as an outstanding achievement," Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said. "For a school to earn every potential distinction applicable to their campus is difficult, but a reflection of some truly amazing work by our educators."
The distinctions include measurements of proficiency and growth based on student performance on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (STAAR) and End of Course exams. The distinctions measure academic achievement in English, math, science and social studies, as well as growth in categories like college readiness and closing learning gaps.
Graphics by Martin A. Lopez


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The U.S. Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria would like to draw your attention to the latest Turkey Travel Warning issued by the U.S. Department of State.
The U.S. Department of State continues to warn U.S. citizens of increased threats from terrorist groups throughout Turkey. U.S. citizens should avoid travel to southeast Turkey and carefully consider the risks of travel to and throughout the country. The U.S. Department of State is updating this Travel Warning to reflect the September 23, 2016 decision to end the authorization for the voluntary departure of family members of employees posted to the U.S. Embassy in Ankara and the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul, which was made following the July 15, 2016 attempted coup. In addition, effective September 24, 2016, the Department of State is ending the ordered departure of family members of U.S. government personnel posted to the Consulate in Adana and family members of U.S. government civilians in Izmir. The Department of State will authorize employed adult dependents (21 year or older) of employees to return to Adana.
U.S. citizens should still carefully consider the need to travel to Turkey at this time. The Department continues to monitor the effects of the ongoing State of Emergency; recent terrorist incidents in Ankara, Istanbul, Gaziantep, and throughout the Southeast; recurring threats; visible increases in police or military activities; and the potential for restrictions on movement as they relate to the safety and well-being of U.S. citizens in Turkey. Delays securing consular access to U.S. citizens detained or arrested by security forces, some of whom also possess Turkish citizenship, continue. This replaces the Travel Warning dated August 29, 2016.
Foreign and U.S. tourists have been explicitly targeted by international and indigenous terrorist organizations in Turkey. As stated in the Worldwide Caution dated September 9, 2016, in the past year, extremists have carried out attacks in France, Belgium, Germany, and Turkey. European authorities continue to warn of additional attacks on major events, tourist sites, restaurants, commercial centers, places of worship, and the transportation sector. Most recently, extremists have threatened to kidnap and assassinate Westerners and U.S. citizens. U.S. citizens are reminded to review personal security plans, monitor local news for breaking events, and remain vigilant at all times.
U.S. government personnel in Turkey remain subject to travel restrictions in the southeastern provinces of Hatay, Kilis, Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Sirnak, Diyarbakir, Van, Siirt, Mus, Mardin, Batman, Bingol, Tunceli, Hakkari, Bitlis, and Elazig. In particular, the U.S. Mission to Turkey may prohibit movements by its personnel to these areas on short notice for security reasons, including threats and demonstrations. Finally, due to recent acts of violence, such as the August 20 suicide bombing in Gaziantep, the September 12 bombing in Van, and the potential for reprisal attacks due to continued Turkish military activity in Syria, U.S. citizens are urged to defer travel to large, urban centers near the Turkish/Syrian border.
For your safety:
- Avoid travel to southeastern Turkey, particularly near the Syrian border.
- Stay away from large crowds, including at popular tourist destinations.
- Exercise heightened vigilance and caution when visiting public areas, especially those heavily frequented by tourists.
- Stay away from political gatherings and rallies.
- Follow the instructions of local authorities in an emergency.
- Stay at hotels with identifiable security measures in place.
- Monitor local media.
For further detailed information regarding Turkey and travel:
- See the State Department's travel website for the Worldwide Caution, Travel Warnings, Travel Alerts, and Turkey's Country Specific Information.
- Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive security messages and help us locate you in an emergency.
- Contact the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, located at 110 Ataturk Boulevard, Kavaklidere, 06100 Ankara, at +90-312-455-5555, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. The after-hours emergency number for U.S. citizens is +90-312-455-5555 or +90-212-335-9000 (U.S. Consulate General Istanbul).
- Contact the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul, located at 2 Uçsehitler Sokagi, 34460, Istinye, Sariyer, at +90-212-335-9000.
- Contact the U.S. Consulate in Adana, located at 212 Girne Bulvari, Guzelevler Mahallesi, Yuregir, Adana at +90-322-455-4100.
- Contact the Consular Agency in Izmir at email@example.com.
- Call 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the United States and Canada or 1-202-501-4444 from other countries from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).
- Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.


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Ravintsara essential oil is used in aromatherapy for its purifying and fortifying properties, which helps those suffering from respiratory problems.
When diffused, it helps to fight productive coughs, colds, sinusitis and nasopharyngitis.
When you have the flu, diffuse the oil 3 times daily for 30 minutes in your house to purify the air.
This oil is made from organic Cinnamomum camphora oil and only contains organically farmed ingredients, certified by Ecocert.
Composition: Cinnamomum camphora leaf oil. 100% des ingrédients sont issus de l'Agriculture Biologique.
Includes: Citra, linalool, d-limonène, nerolidol, pinènes, cinéol
Essential oils for diffusion only
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Avoid diffusing in the presence of children under 7, pregnant and/or breastfeeding women, people with epilepsy or those sensitive to essential oils. Keep out of children's reach. Wash hands thoroughly after handling. Always keep the instructions and the case for the synergy.


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Voice over IP (VoIP)
Telephony is a critical component of any home, office or institution (embassy, school, hospital, police station, etc.). Voice over IP (VoIP)* is the new generation of telephone service. It is ideal for locations that do not have access to standard land lines and locations where landlines are expensive and/or not reliable.
VoIP is flexible - you can get a phone line from almost any country in the World regardless of your location. All you need is access to the Internet (via landline or satellite). People calling you from the country of your choice can call you free of charge (or for the cost of a local call if local calls are not free).
VoIP is powerful - you can use our 2 line VoIP / Fax router and go up to 16 lines with our business solutions. If you have an IP-PBX that supports the SIP protocol, we can also offer our services through your existing hardware.
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VoIP saves you money - a VoIP landline is anywhere from 50% to 80% cheaper than a traditional land line. Long distance rates are up to 95% cheaper (when they are not free) than via local phone providers.
*: Our VoIP service can not be used for emergency calling such as 911.


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One of the key challenges in companies today is the need for seamless digital collaboration across devices, storage systems and geographical locations with internal and external users. The increasing mobile workforce needs enterprise-grade tools for secure collaboration that is compliant with current rules and regulations, but still as easy to use as consumer collaboration software. In everyday work this means that options like Network Drive integrations, FTP or VPNs are not the go-to systems anymore. Users today demand better performance, simpler use and more collaborative functionalities.
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Whether SMB or large-scale Enterprise, secure and seamless collaboration and filesharing in a secure manner is possible and less complicated than it might seem. Join the webinar to experience a digital collaboration platform with strong filesharing capabilities that integrates into your existing IT landscape, incorporates all of your storage systems and offers access from all devices and locations while being on-premise, secure, compliant and fully controlled by your IT department.
The full overview of our CIO Agenda webinar series can be found here.