SURVEY RESULTS CALLED 'FRIGHTENING'

The Numbers Surprise Some And Worry Many

In Newark, 11 percent of middle and high school students claim they've
joined a gang or been asked to. And four percent say they've brought a
weapon to school. Five percent say they've been physically hurt by a
significant other, 23 percent say they've used marijuana, and six
percent say they've attempted suicide.

In the North-Rose Wolcott district, 15.5 percent of high-schoolers say
they've tried cocaine and 54 percent say they've ridden with a driver
who'd been drinking.

By sixth grade, 14 percent of Newark students say they've had sex; by
12th grade, 53 percent. Thirty-four percent say they've tried smoking.

The numbers, which administrators are calling unacceptable, emerged
from a recent survey of nearly every middle and high school student in
the Newark, North Rose-Wolcott and Sodus districts completed as part
of a grant application. They've sparked discussion and concern among
school officials and drawn gasps from a group of high-schoolers.

"If it's 1 percent it's something that we need to work on," Newark
Superintendent Robert Christmann said. "Those are things that we want
to be at zero. Every area that we looked at, other than getting a
zero, would be an area of concern."

The local numbers, however, aren't much different than those showing
up in similar surveys nationwide. And they didn't surprise Christmann
or North-Rose Superintendent Lucinda Miner, although both called them
cause for concern.

"I've been in the business quite a while, so I know that our students
are engaged in these unhealthy activities at a younger and younger age
every year," Miner said. "We just have too many young kids involved in
these unhealthy habits."

The Centers For Disease Control's 2005 National Youth Risk Behavior
Survey reported, for example, that 38.5 percent of high-schoolers have
tried marijuana, 7.6 percent have tried cocaine, 74 percent have tried
alcohol and 47 percent have had sex. Over 25 percent reported having
five drinks in a row within the last 30 days, and 74 percent said
they'd tried alcohol at some point.

The results available from the local surveys - Sodus had not released
its numbers as of press time - show that students in Wayne County are
doing about what their peers across the country are doing. In some
cases, such as cocaine and marijuana use in North Rose, they're
apparently engaging in more risky behaviors than their peers elsewhere.

In North Rose, 41.4 percent of high-schoolers and 38 percent of
middle-schoolers reported binge drinking. The number of Newark
students who reported binge drinking - 22 percent of ninth-through
11th-graders and 33 percent of 12th-graders - more closely matched the
CDC's data.

And in some cases, such as marijuana use in Newark, students here are
apparently engaging in fewer risky behaviors than students elsewhere.

Accuracy

Although nearly 100 percent of the districts' students were surveyed,
administrators assume some margin of error. The survey, they say, is
only as accurate as the students were honest.

Christmann believes the data reflects reality within a few percentage
points and that a few dishonest responses probably would not skew the
results very much.

"These are pretty big groups," he said. "It's fairly
accurate."

Still, administrators do wonder about some of the numbers: Even in an
anonymous survey, teenage braggadocio may come into play.

Miner theorized, for example, that students might exaggerate their
sexual activity. In North Rose, 55.5 percent of high-high schoolers
and 20.5 percent of middle-schoolers reported having sex.

"They just might feel like it was important to brag," she
said.

And Christmann said he wondered if some of the numbers on violence
might be exaggerated. Although three percent of Newark students
claimed in the survey that they'd brought a gun to school more than
twice within the last year, Christmann said no student has been caught
with a real gun during the 16 years he's been superintendent.

"That's not to say that somebody may not have had one," he
said.

But Christmann believes administrators would know if students were
bringing guns to school. Students tend to report major safety issues,
he said: Someone would have seen a gun and told school officials.

In 2005, according to the CDC survey, 5.5 percent of students
nationwide said they'd carried a gun within the last 30 days and 6.5
percent said they'd brought a weapon to school within the last 30 days.

Christmann said he also wondered about the survey's semantics. The
word "gang," for example, could have several meanings, he said.

"You have to be careful [to avoid] putting on an adult definition and
replacing the student definition," he said.

Newark students were not asked how honest they'd been on the survey,
but 84 percent of North Rose students said they'd been "very honest"
in their responses. Another 10.5 percent of middle-schoolers and 12
percent of high-schoolers said they'd been "mostly honest."

Discussion

At last night's Newark school board meeting, Christmann read off the
statistics about sexual activity among the district's students. When
he mentioned that 8 percent of students reported having sex before age
12, several high-schoolers in the audience gasped.

"Once we have this data, what we do with it is the important thing,"
Christmann said. "We want to get this information out to families. We
want people in our community to know about it."

The Newark board plans to devote part of its next three meetings to a
discussion of the survey's results. Last night, they tackled the
sexual behavior portion of the survey. Subsequent discussions will
focus on safety and violence, drug and alcohol abuse, and mental health.

Christmann called some of the survey results "frightening" and a "huge
concern."

At the high school, 32 percent of students said they used condoms, but
13 percent reported having unprotected sex. In North Rose, where 55.5
percent of high-schoolers said they'd had sex, 32 percent reported
using some kind of protection.

While Newark's message remains abstinence, Christmann said, the need
to use condoms must also be addressed with students.

The superintendent also expressed concern about the reported levels of
physical and sexual abuse in Newark. Among the 733 high-schoolers
surveyed, 3 percent reported having sexual contact against their will
within the last year, 5 percent reported having sexual contact against
their will more than a year ago and 6 percent reported being
physically hurt by a date.

He urged the victims of such violence to come forward.

"Don't accept that," he said. "That is not OK."

Board President Roberta Colacino, who called the statistics sobering,
urged parents to have the sometimes-difficult conversations with their
children about sexual activity and abusive relationships.

Don't assume "that can't be my kid," she said.

In an interview this morning, Christmann again stressed the need for
parental and community involvement.

"Before you can make things better, you've got to bring this out," he
said.

Students need to be aware of the statistics, he said, along with
staff, parents and the committee of local clergy that school officials
meet with monthly. And he believes everyone needs to get involved in
curbing some of the risky behaviors shown in the survey. The district
needs to look at not just what health teachers can do but what English
or social studies teachers can do, he said.

Similar discussions have gone on in North Rose, where the school board
reviewed the survey data in June.

"I wish that every student had an adult they thought they could go
to," Miner said.

Among the priorities identified in North Rose-Wolcott are building
such trusting relationships with adults, curbing drug and alcohol
abuse, building students' respect for each other, and fighting
depression. District officials believe that working on those areas may
bring changes in other areas of concern.

Christmann said he'd like to survey students again in a few
years.

"If we don't see a difference . that would be very disappointing," he
said.