Pubdate: Sat, 01 Jul 2006 Source: Roanoke Times (VA) Copyright: 2006 Roanoke Times Contact: http://www.roanoke.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/368 Author: Paul Dellinger Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) Note: First priority is to those letter-writers who live in circulation area. PULASKI COUNTY OFFICIALS PLAN WAR ON SUBSTANCE ABUSE The school board will sign off on a plan within months to combat drug use and other problems. Pulaski County school officials are planning an initiative to drive alcohol and substance abuse out of their schools. While the plan is far from finished, the tools discussed range from education to drug tests to searches with drug dogs to a hotline students can use to anonymously report drug use and drug dealing. "No students in our schools will use illegal substances ... bottom line," said Superintendent Don Stowers. In a survey of 400 students at Pulaski County High School and Pulaski Middle School last year, 35 percent of the students responding said they had consumed five or more alcoholic drinks within a few hours at some point during the previous month. About a third of the students surveyed said they had used their parents' prescription drugs at least once. This data was compiled by the Pulaski County Community Partners. "We have a problem in this county that's destroying a lot of lives," said Paul Phillips, board chairman. "We're taking this seriously." The school board held a work session on its substance abuse awareness initiative last week. Administrative officials will consider the comments of board members and draw up a program for their consideration. The school system will also call on the Pulaski Community Partners Coalition in preparing its program. Board member Pam Chitwood is a prevention specialist with New River Valley Community Services and works with that program, which seeks ways to handle such problems as substance abuse. "I guess, for the longest time, we believed there was nothing you could do about these things. And there is something you can do," Chitwood said. The coalition has sponsored units on alcohol abuse for fifth- and sixth-grade students. Now, school officials are thinking they should start earlier. But the initial program will target the seventh and ninth grades through health classes and other means. "Fifty-three percent of our trouble last year came from ninth grade," Stowers said. "The reason we can talk about this now, and maybe we couldn't two years ago, is because of the coalition." The school system has placed family prevention specialists in its schools, a step Stowers said also had to be in place before this new initiative could have been considered. "There are lots of things in place that we can tap into and use," he said. "I do think we have enough people. We just have to redirect some energies to it." Drug testing may be tried, if it can be done legally. "The only way you would want to do this is if you had treatment," said board Chairman Paul Phillips. "And it can't be punitive, at least the first one," added Jeff Bain, another board member. "You have to realize that some teachers are extremely uncomfortable dealing with this subject," said Phillips, who has been a school principal. Some do not feel they are qualified to speak about it, he said. Bain said parents must play a major part in the program. "You have to start with the parents," Chitwood agreed, although the school system has their children longer than the parents do. Bain said the program should not only involve teachers. Other school employees such as custodians, secretaries and cafeteria workers should also be included, he said. "Those teams should be made up of that. You're absolutely right," Stowers said. Drug-detecting dogs may also be brought in. In fact, Stowers said, students with whom he has talked suggested that. The students have also said teachers need to be more aware of things going on in their classrooms. Board member John Wenrich suggested a tip line where students could alert school officials to substance abuse and other problems. That already happens, said Max Cecil, student services coordinator. Students report things to the school security officer, among others, he said. Cecil said a parent told him the best preventative measure that could have been done, in retrospect, was to padlock the home medicine chest. "If our primary goal is to enhance student achievement, and we know what we do about substance and alcohol abuse," Stowers said, "this is a way to move us forward." Clarification, posted 7/3 A survey of Pulaski County students cited in a Saturday story about the school system dealing with substance abuse was from the 2004 Youth Risk Behavior Survey at Pulaski County High School. Thirty-five percent of the respondents said they had consumed five or more alcoholic beverages in a few hours at some point during the past month. Students in grades seven and eight at both Dublin and Pulaski middle schools were also surveyed but had much lower incidents of binge drinking and were not included in the statistic. Pam Chitwood, a school board member and a representative of Pulaski County Community Partners Coalition, said in an e-mail that a 2006 survey at the high school showed 30 percent of students reported binge drinking. The school system does the survey each spring and compiles the data, which it shares with the coalition. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek