Pubdate: Thu, 29 Oct 2015 Source: Vancouver 24hours (CN BC) Copyright: 2015 Vancouver 24 hrs. Contact: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/letters Website: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3837 Author: Michael Mui Page: 5 Cited: Smart Approaches to Marijuana Canada: http://www.learnaboutsam.ca/ TEEN WANTS HIGH SCHOOLERS TO SKIP 420 VSB disputes notion that many Vancouver students attended marijuana protests on April 20 About 11% of high school students in Vancouver reported absences on April 20 - known as 420 and dedicated to marijuana protests - prompting a group to call on school districts to do more to protect youth from pot use. The attendance figures, obtained through the freedom of information process, showed 2,681 students were absent from secondary schools in Vancouver for at least one period that day - out of a total of 23,614 secondary students in the district. Recent grad Connor Fesenmaier, an 18-year-old former Surrey School District student, said he attended 420 during school hours this year in an attempt to discourage pot use. "A lot of my friends at that time they went to 420 as well. I saw them on Facebook, Instagram, and whatever social media posting about it," he said, adding that he would often notice three to five students away from each of his classes during past 420 protests. Fesenmaier is part of the group called Smart Approaches to Marijuana Canada. Group spokeswoman Pamela McColl said both the school district and parents need to be involved to discourage pot use. "People in the Vancouver School Board should be much more diligent and involved in this issue of marijuana and the issue of dispensaries in Vancouver as well," she said, pointing to how dispensaries near school still have another six months to operate despite existing against city zoning regulations. However, John Dawson, Vancouver district principal of field services, said on Wednesday the number of absences on 420 wasn't actually that high. If only the number of class periods - there are four periods in a day - - missed by students is examined, which Dawson said is a more accurate comparison, the actual number of classes missed on April 20 was less than 2% higher than in the two days leading up to 420. But the data also shows the number of periods missed on April 20 was 4,872, compared to the daily average of 4,153 missed periods for the 165 days of instructional time last year. "If you compare the whole school year to 420, it looks like there may be a small number of kids more away on that date, that's because there's more likely to be kids away in the winter than in the fall, it's just seasonal variation," he said, pointing to things like sickness, field trips, vacations and appointments as possible reasons kids were away. "94% of the classes were attended that day. If you look at any large organization, if you have 94% attendance on a day it's pretty good." Dawson said the district is more concerned about youth with a pattern of absences, and that the district doesn't see 420 as a cause for concern. School board chairman Fraser Ballantyne said 420 is not an event the district would "ever condone," but that it's still unclear why students were away. "Ultimately, as parents and individuals we have to always empower our kids to make the right choice. The forbidden fruit is always there - we have to counsel as parents, as teachers, as administrators, as police officers - it takes a community," he said. "Obviously as trustees and teachers, we would all be encouraging students not to attend that during school time at all." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom