WAUKESHA SCHOOLS TURN TO TV TO SPREAD ANTI-DRUG MESSAGE

Segment Aimed At Parents Shows How Teenagers Can Get High By Sniffing

Seeking to increase the audience from previously poorly attended parent
outreach efforts, the Waukesha School District took to cable television
this month with messages targeted, at least in one case, to adult viewers
only.

The district's prime-time airing of a 15-minute video that detailed how
children can get high by sniffing everyday household products brought
criticism from one substance abuse expert and support from another.

The video, which was shown most recently at 7:15 p.m. Thursday, includes a
warning that it is intended for adults only and could increase inhalant
usage if viewed by children.

During the segment, which is lightly peppered with anti-drug messages,
teens and drug counselors lay out a variety of ways to get high by sniffing
everything from paint thinner to spray paint to white-out.

They also tell parents how to identify inhalant addiction and how to teach
their children to refuse drugs.

"Where kids can have access to seeing something, we generally discourage
any explicit explanation about how to do it," said Harvey Weiss, executive
director of the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition, based in Austin,
Texas. The wide availability of most inhalants could make such instructions
more dangerous than with other drugs, he said.

"A lot of times kids know about products but they don't know about how to
do it."

Marlene Williams, coordinator of the Waukesha community action team for
Mothers Against Drunk Driving, gasped when the program was described to
her. "Kids are so darned curious," she said.

Williams, however, stopped short of criticizing the programming, saying she
understands how important it is for school officials to educate parents on
such delicate issues.

But Claudia Roska, executive director of the Waukesha County Council on
Alcoholism and Other Drug Abuse, commended the district's efforts in
exploring alternative ways to reach parents. And she said she doubts airing
such details will tell any child something they can't learn elsewhere.

"I do believe that parents have a responsibility for being aware of what
children are watching," Roska said. "But I also believe that kids that are
along that track that are likely to be using inhalants, they'll find out.
They're not going to wait for a video."

Waukesha School District Superintendent David Schmidt said he had not seen
the inhalant program or the marijuana video that preceded it Thursday
night. But he said he has encouraged expanded use of cable television by
his district.

He said he doesn't know how many people are watching the new
parent-education programs, which were scheduled Thursday against shows like
"Friends," "Whose Line Is It Anyway" and the Fox movie "The Nutty
Professor."

"Frankly, I didn't know it was airing," Schmidt said of the marijuana and
inhalant videos. "There's a lot of things that happen in a district this
large that I don't know about. And we have not had anyone raise the issue."

Last month, Waukesha Mayor Carol Lombardi decided to pull her prime-time
cable call-in show because no one was calling and she wasn't sure anyone
was watching.

But the Waukesha School District's counseling coordinator for alcohol,
tobacco and other drugs, Angela Grenier, said she saw cable as a way to
reach out to more parents and teach them about problems affecting teens.

Other Issues

The parent-education programs also will take on other issues, such as
stress management and conflict resolution. Next month, she said,
programming will address drunken driving,eating disorders and body image.

"That's information that we really want to get out for parents, because we
can put a wonderful program on for parents, and we're finding that we're
not getting the parents in" for training sessions the district has held,
Grenier said.

So far, she said, she has received phone calls from five parents who have
seen the program, which has been broadcast throughout the month. All the
feedback has been positive, she said.

Most of the videos that will be aired on the program will come from the
School District's current collection and will be something that might be
shown to students in a classroom, Grenier said.

The inhalant video "is one that is more for parents and that's why, by
having the warning at the very beginning, the parents can see that and make
the decision for themselves," she said.

School Board member Ellen Morris-Gutierrez said she wasn't aware of
specific outreach efforts made by the district on cable television.

But she said she knew that the district held parent-education meetings in
its facilities, and a video showing how to use inhalants would be OK in
that setting.

With cable television, she acknowledged, it would be possible for children
to watch it and "find out how to use inhalants. And that would be
unfortunate. And perhaps we would have to reconsider" the program.