Provide a healthy, supportive campus that inspires students to learn

By Jeff Elghanayan

Substance abuse derails education. We can limit the damage by working together.

The Healthy Kids Survey indicates we need to be concerned about substance abuse and related problems on and off our Middle & High School campuses The schools are dealing with the problem, but the schools will only be effective with the support of the families. There may be parents, teachers and coaches who need assistance dealing with substance abuse by their children in their homes, classrooms, playing fields and campuses.

Solutions I would use to develop more participation in solving this problem:

Lead parents through the school policy at Back to School Night. This will stimulate, at the parent level, peer to peer conversation on the subject.

Provide a training resource to educate all parents, teachers & coaches on detecting the signs of a problem and what the appropriate first response may be until further assistance can be engaged.

Create awareness of the distinctions of age appropriate behavior to avoid students from adopting adult behaviors at too early an age.

Develop an email contact for each parent (not just one parent) so that direct and confidential communication to the parents by the school can keep parents informed and guided on relevant developments at the school. This will reinforce a consistent message to the students on and off campus. Bulletins and tips can be issued covering topics such as locking medicine cabinets, setting appropriate behavior examples, how to chaperone a party and latest trends identified on campus that parents should look for.

Healthy Kids Survey Results:

We need a deeper understanding of the student population that has the highest propensity of adverse responses on the survey. We can then focus the program to reach the students of greatest need first.