Series: 12 Of 16

A DIFFERENT EDUCATION

The front-line soldiers in the war on drugs don't carry guns or badges, they
don't raid crack houses or make arrests. They are the teachers and school
professionals who are the primary source of drug education for youths ages
10 to 18, and their actions may be the key to stemming the growing illegal
drug problem in the South, according to a national survey that schools
across the area took part in during the 2002-2003 school year.

School officials in the Pell City, Sylacauga, Talladega County and
Talladega city school systems say the programs their systems are using
to prevent or intervene in student drug use are making a difference.

Think First

One program designed specifically for students who are not just at
risk when it comes to drugs but who also may have social behavior
problems is receiving accolades from Talladega County school officials.

The program, called Think First, is housed at the Genesis Alternative
Education Center at J.R. Pittard Vocational School and is a
collaboration between the school system and Cheaha Mental Health Center.

Beverly Smith, student services coordinator for the school system,
said the program is helping children make good choices in life. Any
student can be referred to Genesis, but those who have drug-related
issues are automatically placed in the Think First class taught by
counselor Mike Wills.

Parents have been very receptive to the program, Smith
said.

Wills, a counselor with Cheaha Mental Health, helped develop the
program. He started off five years ago teaching the class two days a
week. It has expanded to five days a week.

Students usually spend one semester in the class.

"It's our adolescent program. The clients are made aware of the
importance of being able to identify and express their feelings. This
would include any anger issues, low self-esteem, or how to deal with
grief and loss issues. The clients are educated about the negative
consequences of engaging in any high risk behavior, which could be
drug use.

"Our belief is that the more self aware the adolescent becomes, the
more likely he will be able to have a positive self-image with
realistic goals and the motivation to follow through," Wills said.

Each individual is encouraged to "think first" to ensure that they are
better able to make decisions.

In addition to covering the topics that address these issues, there
are times when a student will need individual time to process specific
areas of concern in their life, Wills said.

If there are serious issues that the adolescent is dealing with,
beyond the capacity of the school system to address, a referral may be
made for a mental health consultation.

The students are assessed when they come in.

"For example, he may have been fighting and he is sent to Genesis for
that infraction. When we get him here, the assessment is done, and we
may find there is a drug or alcohol abuse problem," Wills said.

Wills' classroom is adorned with artwork, poems and Christmas wreaths
his students have made in class. He said the art, poems and wreaths
are part of recreational therapy he does with the clients.

The adolescent intensive outpatient program usually involves around 36
students at Genesis. That group is broken into groups of 12. For those
smaller groups of students, Wills provides two hours of treatment -
from recreational therapy to group therapy.

The center also has a drug preventionist who comes from Cheaha Mental
Health each Friday. The center has three certified teachers and three
instructional assistants, along with the principal. "We have a
well-qualified staff. Three teachers have master's degrees and one has
a doctorate," King said. "There are a lot of good success stories
here. We've seen kids afraid and hostile. They leave crying, not
wanting to go. These kids get completely turned around."

Other resources

The county has a number of other programs that address alcohol, drugs
and violence prevention, as do Pell City, Sylacauga and Talladega city
schools

These programs include Project ALERT, Too Good for Drugs and Violence,
and Get Real About Violence.

There are also school resource officers in these systems.

In Talladega city schools, Doug Campbell, coordinator of special
education and federal programs, said that, under the Safe and Drug
Free Schools and Communities Act, school districts are required to
implement programs grounded in scientifically based research.

Federal funds are used to support a variety of activities designed to
prevent drug use, school violence and, to the extent possible,
implement programs that help "our district to create safe, disciplined
and drug-free environments that support student academic
achievement."

For example, Campbell said, Talladega city schools have chosen to
implement a two-prong approach - addressing school security and
addressing alcohol, drug and violence prevention.

The school system addresses security with a school resource officer
and drug, alcohol and violence prevention are addressed with a number
of programs, he said.

Project Northland is a state-of-the-art prevention program for sixth-,
seventh- and eighth-grade students that focuses on alcohol and drug
prevention, Campbell said.

Project Northland uses environmental factors, intrapersonal factors
and behavioral factors to promote prevention objectives, Campbell
explained. The project also invites students to use experimental
learning techniques in the classroom and at home with their parents.

Get Real About Violence is a curriculum designed for grades four
through nine and is designed to encourage students to change the norms
that promote and perpetuate violence and to address factors that put
students at risk for becoming involved with violence, Campbell said.

D.A.R.E.

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program (D.A.R.E.) uses a
carefully structured curriculum, that focuses on topics such as
violence prevention, drug use and misuse, consequences of behavior,
resisting peer pressure, building self-esteem, assertiveness training,
managing stress, media images of drug use, role models and support
systems.

Talladega police Sgt. Ron Dye is D.A.R.E. instructor for the school
system.

The core program is organized into 17 lessons lasting between 45 to 60
minutes and are taught by the D.A.R.E. instructor. The D.A.R.E.
program sends the trained, uniformed police officer into all
fifth-grade classes every week for 17 weeks to teach students ways to
refuse drugs and alcohol, as well as tobacco products and violence.

A separate component of this program is also used to introduce the
D.A.R.E. concept to students in kindergarten through fourth-grade. The
Talladega City School System has been offering the D.A.R.E. program
since 1992 with the help and financial assistance of the Talladega
Police Department.

Sylacauga also has a D.A.R.E. program, which is taught in all grades,
and three school resource officers, said Karen Boyd, student services
coordinator.

There is also a Junior Police Academy program for students in grades
nine through 12. It is an elective at the high school. There are 10
students in the first year of the program, Boyd said.

"We have intervention programs at every grade level," she said. She
believes the programs are successful.

Resource officer Willie Kidd said officers try to develop programs
that get to the at-risk students.

"A lot of times these students come from single-parent homes where the
parents are working 12 hours a day. They don't have time to spend with
their children and these youngsters have a higher potential of
becoming drug users. They strive for attention. They don't get the
attention at home and act out in school.

"Drug use in Sylacauga is, in most grades, below the national average.
Hopefully the programs we have will help us get that even lower," Kidd
said.

The resource officers will be going for additional training this
spring to target seventh-and possibly eighth-graders, said Lt. Mike
Gorman, resource officer with the school system. This could take the
place of the D.A.R.E. program in the future.

These resource officers and the programs they provide, Boyd said, are
the best example of a working relationship with a police department.

"Parents need to be aware of this. Our intervention programs are
working because of this. We have incredible support from the Police
Department," Boyd said.

The system also takes part in the Too Good for Violence and Too Good
for Drugs programs. Too Good For Violence is for high school students,
while Too Good for Drugs is for kindergarten through fifth-grade. Both
are research based and help students build self-esteem while make choices.

Another program Sylacauga has is Project Alert for grades seven and
eight. The program teaches students to be aware of their surroundings
and what leads to drug use. It provides strategies on standing up for
yourself and not following the crowd using drugs, Boyd said.

Parent problems

One area Boyd believes school systems need to work on is programs on
substance abuse for parents.

"But we can't seem to get parents to participate," she
said.

Gorman agreed, saying that some are not interested at all and the ones
who need to come will not.

"Sometimes parents walk around with rose-colored glasses when it comes
to drugs. They have got to know what their children are doing," she
said.

Their involvement is even more important because most of the drug use
happens off campus, after school and on weekends. Boyd points out that
the collaboration between the Police Department and the three resource
officers is "collaboration at its finest. It is an equal
partnership."

Boyd said he knows the school system has drug issues it must face but
says most of the problems with drug use are not actually occurring in
the schools.

"We still must find a way to reach children that goes beyond school.
It is going to take the community and those outside school," Kidd said.

Drug use, Kidd said, tends to decrease once students reach high
school. "They are more perceptive in high school than in the
sixth-grade. They are more open and mature than people give them credit for.

Talladega County has a Too Good for Drugs and Violence program,
Project Alert and a resource officer who goes to all its schools,
Smith said. The Too Good for Drugs program is based on what Smith said
are the 40 assets kids need to succeed.

Another program the system instituted is the Positive Behavior Support
Program.

Donnie Guinn, Pell City School System coordinator of instructional
support services, said the school system uses a version of D.A.R.E. as
well as Project Alert.

Project Alert, he said, doesn't just deal with drugs, it also uses
anger management, behavior modification and other approaches. It is a
scientific based research program, and system officials are hoping to
expand it.

The system has two resource officers, one at the junior high level and
another in high school. This program is tied to D.A.R.E. The officers
are Don Nowland and John Herren.

Guinn said he believes drug testing of student athletes is one big
deterrent to drug use.