STUDENTS, POLICE LOOK TO PARENTS FOR HELP

Goal: Give Kids Alternative To Trouble

PITTSFIELD - A kid was selling drugs on the street when a police officer
swooped in and arrested him. A girl, who stood alone, pulled a plastic
knife from her pocket and pretended to cut her wrists.

In five-minute skits at a community forum two weeks ago, about 18 middle
and high school students presented snapshots of the problems they feel kids
face growing up in town. They called for parental involvement to help
address teenage drug abuse, sexual activity, violence, underage drinking
and underage smoking.

But only one parent was there to listen. Of the eight adults who attended
the community-wide meeting, seven were members of a coalition of concerned
officials who planned it.

"I think there's parent concern, and I think parents care about their
kids," said Leslie Bergevin, a counselor at Pittsfield Middle High School
and a member of the coalition. "It's a matter of finding a way to make a
connection (with parents) and build on it."

This week, the students hung posters outlining possible solutions for the
risky activities in the middle school hallway. It's Bergevin's hope that
the posters, products of a brainstorming session at last week's meeting,
will spur parents to become more involved in the community effort.

There's a lot for parents to be concerned about. Drug and alcohol abuse are
on the rise in town, police Chief Robert Wharem said in October. Middle and
high school students who participate in the Pittsfield Youth Workshop on
Depot Street have reported seeing drug deals conducted on the streets. In
August, two Pittsfield residents, ages 17 and 28, died of drug overdoses.

Surveys conducted in 1998 and 2001 indicated that Pittsfield Middle High
students have sex at a younger age than other adolescents in the state.
They are also more likely to use marijuana and experiment with the drug at
a younger age than kids statewide. The first survey, conducted by the
University of New Hampshire Teen Assessment Program (TAP), found that the
more parents are involved in the lives of their children, the less likely
those kids will be to engage in risky behaviors.

Since the 1998 survey was conducted, a coalition consisting of the police
department, school officials and several organizations that serve the
area's youth has worked to involve parents through night forums such as the
one held last week, Bergevin said. After the results of the TAP survey were
released in the fall of 1998, about 20 to 25 people attended regular
community meetings to discuss them. With money from the grant, the school
sent out TAP newsletters throughout the 1998-99 school year explaining the
results, topic by topic.

Then, the program ended. The results were out, so the newsletters stopped.

"After that, things kind of died," Bergevin said.

School officials tried to regain momentum during the 2000-01 school year by
designing their own newsletters for parents, but they could only afford to
print the letters four times a year.

"It was impossible to do it on a monthly basis," Bergevin said.

The 2001 state-administered Youth Risk Assessment Survey indicated that
fewer Pittsfield teens abused alcohol or engaged in violence than did at
the time of the 1998 TAP survey. However, they were still more likely to
use marijuana and tobacco and to engage in sexual intercourse than
adolescents statewide.

After Pittsfield received the results of the 2001 survey, Chris Averill,
director of the Merrimack County Juvenile Diversion Program, volunteered to
run a six-week evening program titled "If drugs are the answer, then what
is the question?" The coalition cancelled the program after three weeks
because only one student attended.

"We weren't getting a response at all," Bergevin said.

The drug-related deaths of the two young men this summer highlighted the
need for parental involvement, Wharem said.

"In the high-risk situations we do deal with, there doesn't seem to be a
whole lot of desire on the parents' part to want to be involved," he said.
"As long as the kid is not bothering the parent, and they don't hear about
it, there's really no issue."

Officials hope to find new activities to bring to Pittsfield for teens and
are investigating programs in other communities. Kids currently have little
to do after the school closes and sports end, they said.

They would like to expand the Pittsfield Youth Workshop. The workshop,
which provides teens a place to play pool and video games, cook and gossip,
is crowded. More than 30 kids use its too-small rooms on weekday afternoons.

They also want to reach kids who aren't drawn to the workshop, Wharem said.

"We want to reach all kids, not just those that participate in sports or
band," he said. "(We want to reach) those who need to be reached, rather
than just those who want to be . . . helped."

And the coalition hopes to reach out to more parents. Only one parent,
Tracy Mitchell, has attended the two town forums held so far.

"I wish the town would get more involved," she said. "These are our kids."

Many parents can't attend the meetings because they have to work or stay at
home with younger kids, officials said. Wharem said he received several
calls from parents who expressed interest but told him they could not attend.

Heather Mike, director of the Pittsfield Youth Workshop, said the kids
realize their parents are busy. The workshop's monthly parent drop-in
dinner attracts few parents. Last Tuesday, more than 40 teens crowded into
the center's two rooms to eat a Thanksgiving dinner they helped prepare.
Only about three parents showed up.

"A lot of kids hang out here . . . because their parents are working late
at night," Mike said.

Mitchell's daughter, Julie Shafer, 12, said the fact that only her mother
attends the town forums is "kind of embarrassing." More kids, not parents,
should attend the meetings, she said. Then she paused to reflect.

"I'd like to see more parents and more kids," she said.

Julie would feel more comfortable if other parents went, Mitchell said. "It
would be less intimidating," she said.

A full-time receptionist and single mother, Mitchell said she often leaves
work early to make it to the meetings. The kids noticed that their parents
weren't there when they performed the skits, she said.

"The kids were basically watching the kids (act)," she said. "It's obvious
that they're noticing."