POT, SEX, BOOZE -- IT COULD BE YOUR KID

AMHERST -- One in three Souhegan High School students say they have
smoked marijuana or had sex, and two in three say they have used alcohol.

But less than 10 percent of the parents of students at the school
showed up to talk about those numbers Tuesday night.

About 30 parents attended the discussion about the results of the
2005 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey held at the school. The
survey was taken by 837 students during school last year, which is
about 81 percent of the student body. No students
attended Tuesday's discussion.

Jim Kimberly, an Amherst parent who attended the talk, said the
statistics are real. Many parents had their own experiences with
drinking in high school and parents know how kids hide it because
they did it themselves, he said.

"We have to be honest with ourselves and each other," he said.

Parents talked about how to steer kids away from risky behavior.

Some of those suggestions included bringing drug-sniffing dogs into
the school, establishing a tip line for students to anonymously
alert police, helping parents be more aware of what their kids are
doing and checking up on them when they come home at night.

Others said police should crack down on parents who allow students
to drink at parties in their homes, or the school should create
mandatory programs and workshops for parents.

Souhegan High School students who took the survey were among
students from 26 high schools in the state to participate in the
study. The surveys were voluntary and anonymous.

According to the survey, about 1 in 10 Souhegan students said they
seriously considered suicide in the past year, and about 2 in 10
said they used drugs or alcohol before having sex.

For the most part, the students' participation in risky behaviors
was less than the state average, according to the study. However,
7.5 percent of Souhegan students said they carried weapons to
school. The state average is 6.5 percent.Sue Clark, a parent and
staff support employee in the school's guidance office, said
the survey is an asset to the community.

"It's not the school's responsibility," she said about preventing
students from participating in risky behaviors. "It's our responsibility."

Clark shared some of her own experiences of finding out about
parties her son planned to attend. She was naive with her first
child, she said, but soon learned she needed to do things her
children might not like, such as calling their friends parents to
make sure they would be there when her kids went to their homes.

Parents are not supposed to be friends with their children, she said.

"They've got enough friends," she said.

Sue Feeney said she and other parents have decided to start a
program called Project Graduation, which will include a lock-in
event where students can socialize and spend the night together
under adult supervision after the graduation this year.