STUDENT SURVEY: ALCOHOL, DRUG USE STILL A CONCERN

While local results of the 2007 Minnesota Student Survey are similar
to the statewide data, Shakopee Superintendent Jon McBroom isn't sure
he wants the district to be considered "normal."

"We know the behavior of young people here is not a lot different than
other places," McBroom said, noting that none of the results were surprising.

However, the district had hoped to reduce the level of drug and
alcohol use among its students, McBroom said. "I'm a little
disappointed that our attempts to reduce alcohol and chemical use
through education and support hasn't helped us lower those numbers."

Statewide results indicate that 31 percent of 12th-grade boys and 37
percent of 12th-grade girls admitted to using alcohol within the past
year, while those numbers were at 25 percent for males and 37 percent
for females in Shakopee. Alcohol use among ninth-grade boys was at 21
percent (male) and 25 percent (female) across the state and at 18
percent (male) and 24 percent (female) in Shakopee.

Forty-two percent of 12th-grade boys in Shakopee admitted to using
both alcohol and marijuana or other drugs during the past year,
compared to 33 percent statewide, while such use among ninth-grade
boys was 3 percent less than the state average, at 13 percent. Six
percent of sixth-grade boys in Shakopee claimed to have used both
alcohol and drugs compared with 3 percent statewide.

Binge drinking (five or more drinks at a time on 10 or more occasions
during the past year) was 6 percent higher among 12th-grade girls in
Shakopee (18 percent) than statewide, while 12th-grade boys came in at
25 percent in Shakopee and 24 percent statewide. Numbers for
ninth-graders were slightly lower in Shakopee (3 percent for boys and
2 percent for girls) than at the state level (5 percent for boys and 3
percent for girls).

The Student Survey was administered to sixth-, ninth- and 12th-graders
on a voluntary and anonymous basis. The survey is done every three
years and asks students about tobacco, alcohol and other drug use and
attitudes, sexual behaviors, dietary behaviors, physical activity and
unintentional injuries, violence and other topics. Before the survey
was given, parents were given an opportunity to view it and determine
whether they wanted their children to take part.

Data collected from 971 Shakopee students was among 136,549 surveys
completed statewide.

Because the survey maintains student anonymity, there is room for
error and dishonest answers.

For example, 5 percent of sixth-grade boys, 7 percent of ninth-grade
boys and 3 percent of 12th-grade boys in Shakopee claim that they were
stabbed or had a gun fired at them on school property during the past
year - incidents that never occurred, McBroom noted.

McBroom said the numbers regarding drug and alcohol use are telling
signs of the community and he believes these are happening in the
school district. In an effort to reduce alcohol and drug use among
students, he said, "We do a lot in the school district to try and
educate kids and we will continue to do so."

Although spot checks in the schools using police dogs have not turned
up much in the past, McBroom said, the district intends to continue
random searches.

He said the results reiterate his belief that improvement takes the
whole community, including parents, to make inroads with students.

"It's not just a school situation, it's a community situation," he
said.

McBroom said he also is not naive enough to believe that gang activity
is absent from the area and, while a majority of students indicated in
the survey that they feel safe in school, a disproportionate number
believe illegal gang activity is a problem. The biggest disparity
occurred at the ninth-grade level, where 51 percent of boys and 41
percent of girls agreed gang activity was a problem, as compared with
22 percent and 16 percent from the same groups of students statewide
(in Shakopee, 82 percent of these boys and 81 percent of these girls
said they feel safe at school).

To combat any gang affiliation in school, students must adhere to a
dress code that prohibits certain apparel and must follow behavior
guidelines.

"We take a strong approach to this pseudo-gang activity," McBroom
said, noting that a student can be removed from school if they don't
follow the rules.

McBroom said that issues of school safety and having the students feel
safe in school are very important within the district and he believes
that the numbers would be different if the surveys were taken this
year, with the opening of new facilities.

"It would be very interesting to know if the sixth-, ninth- and
12th-graders would respond the same way with more space now, versus
cramming kids into buildings," McBroom said. "Before we opened these
new buildings, the schools were crowded and there were more problems."

The junior high school houses eighth- and ninth-graders in the old
high school building and the new - and larger - Shakopee High School
welcomed its first students in grades 10 through 12. Shakopee Middle
School, which used to be for grades seven, eight and nine, now serves
just seventh- and eighth-graders.

Other noteworthy survey results: Statewide, both smoking and
methamphetamine use decreased in all grades polled (sixth-graders were
not asked about methamphetamines). Seat belt use among all students
surveyed in 2007 increased since those surveyed in 2004. This is an
important aspect of the survey, according to the Department of Public
Safety, because traffic deaths are the leading killer of teenagers.