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."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman