NEW DRUG AWARENESS PROGRAM AT RHS

"We don't want to take any risks on educating the students on how to
sneak around their parents," said Parent Teacher Student Association
President Tami Cullen. "We want to educate the parents on what to look
for, what's being used and where the danger areas are in our own community."

The program is based on a similar program that Cullen said her parents
went to while she was attending school.

"This is a problem that exists in our community and it's not going to
go away," Cullen said. "We need to address it as a community, which
means educating our parents about what to watch for."

The event will be co-sponsored by the Rowlett High School PTSA, the
LIGHT program, GISD, Rowlett Police Department, ROCK (Reaching Our
Community's Kids) and PETS (Prevention Education and Training Service).

In addition to the high school parents, Cullen said flyers were sent
out to the parents of Schrade and Coyle middle school students to help
them as their children transition into high school.

"We're hoping to have at least 1,000 people in attendance," Cullen
said. "We're ready to spread out through the school to accommodate
everyone who wants to come."

The program will consist of three different sections, each
approximately 30 minutes long. One section will be a presentation by
the LIGHT counselor Donnell Alexander, on the new trends in substance
abuse.

"They'll talk about the current over the counter drugs that are being
abused, how they're being used and what they're seeing increases or
decreases in," Cullen said.

The second section will focus on the ROCK program's objectives.
According to Cullen, parents will have the opportunity to hear from
the parent of a child who died of drug overdose.

"The problem is, we think we know what to look for, we think we know
where the kids go, we think we know what they're using, but we really
don't," Cullen said. "The parents that will speak are parents who
thought they knew, too."

This section will also inform parents of the danger spots around town
where students will typically go to abuse drugs.

ROCK is a program started by Rowlett's Judge Belinda Loveland, who
will speak as to the statistics she sees in the Rowlett courtroom
involving children and drugs. ROCK has hopes to make this portion of
the program more of an impact.

The third portion of the evening will be given by PETS and will
educate parents on the various types of paraphernalia that can be used
in the use of drugs.

"They will bring out what they call their drug bug," Cullen said. "It
is a VW bug that has 60 items of paraphernalia hidden inside. Parents
will be invited to go through the car and try to find them. The folks
at PETS said that the average parent only finds three."

The PETS people will also have various items of drug paraphernalia on
display and how it is related to the drug culture.

"I thought I knew what to look for until I saw what they had on
display," Cullen said. "I had no clue on so many of those things."

Finally, a resource table and counselors will be available for parents
or grandparents who are afraid their children may be at risk.