Pubdate: Sun, 25 Dec 2005 Source: Boston Globe (MA) Copyright: 2005 Globe Newspaper Company Contact: http://www.boston.com/globe/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52 Author: Dorian Block, Globe Correspondent Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) KEEPING INFORMED ABOUT TEEN PARTIES BY CHECKING ONLINE Parents Are Joining E-Mail Network ARLINGTON -- Arlington High School parents will soon have a new tool for finding out what goes on at their teenagers' parties. Parents, with the help of the high school's principal, Charles Skidmore, are setting up an Internet contact list, with the e-mail addresses and telephone numbers of parents who are interested in sharing information with one another about parties, alcohol and drug use, and parental supervision. "I don't think that parents were thinking they'd never been able to get in touch with each other before. We do have a phone book in Arlington," Skidmore said. "But I think parents have realized maybe kids are doing a little more in basements on Saturday nights than they thought they are. This is parent-to-parent communication. And everyone on this list is fine being called." The list began as a suggestion by several parents at a Nov. 16 forum at the high school entitled "What Parents Should Know about what Arlington Teenagers are Doing." During the forum, parents heard from a panel that included the town's police chief, school officials, and representatives from agencies that serve teens. They also learned the results of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey for the district. The district's health coordinator, Cindy Bouvier, said the turnout at the event was high -- 80 high school parents -- and many of those who attended felt it was important to take action when they heard some startling statistics about their children's behavior. The survey is taken once every four years and last year was administered to 972 students by an independent company. While the numbers for cigarette smoking, drug use, and sexual behavior were generally down from four years earlier, a few of the town's statistics were higher than the state average, such as the 28 percent of students who reported that they had drunk five or more alcoholic drinks in a row within the 30 days before the survey was given and the 27.7 percent of students who reported smoking marijuana in the same time period. "There's a lot of data in there, and we wanted parents to be aware what the students were telling us about drug use and alcohol," Skidmore declared. "The thing that was the most difficult was the one with alcohol use. Most of our numbers, we are below the state norm. For that one we're higher." Bouvier, who has two children who have attended Arlington schools, including one who is a senior at Arlington High, said a similar list existed several years ago, but in order to sign up, parents had to sign a contract saying that they would never serve alcohol when teens were at their house. Bouvier said parents have been reluctant to sign contracts more recently; only 25 signed up the last time the school initiated a list even though the contracts were not legally binding. She said this list is less of a commitment but should help parents feel comfortable calling one another when their kids say they are attending a party or get-together at another house. "Some students would have a difficult time" with their parents calling the house that they are going to visit, Bouvier said. If they feel that way, "maybe there's a reason to be calling." Skidmore said 150 people had signed up to be added to the list in the two weeks since it was announced. "I know from being a parent that we did make the calls and parents weren't irate or angry but didn't understand why were we calling. Why were we suspicious of them? Why were we suspicious of our kids?" Skidmore recalled. "For me it was a normal thing to do. This list will serve that purpose." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman