Pubdate: Thu, 27 Jun 2002
Source: Burnaby Now, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2002 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.burnabynow.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1592
Author: Mia Thomas
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

SCHOOL DISTRICT LOOKS AT NEW DRUG POLICY

Stopping Drug Abuse Before It Can Start Means Calling In The Experts - And 
That Includes Students.

Burnaby school district is asking for help from teachers, staff and 
students to create a new substance abuse prevention strategy that targets 
younger grades.

"If more and more people learn about drugs and their side effects, they're 
more likely to stay away," said Tracey, an elementary student who spoke on 
the strategy at the June 11 board meeting.

She also explained how students had discussed resisting peer pressure.

"We are our own boss if we are put in a situation like this," Tracey said.

Matt, another student, explained why they were talking about prevention to 
students still in their intermediate years.

"I think it's very important to learn about drugs when you're young so you 
can deal with and recognize (situations) in high school," Matt said.

Terry Waterhouse, the district's manager of youth services, outlined the 
substance abuse framework for the trustees at the board meeting, explaining 
the idea was to make the plan accessible and versatile for teachers so they 
could easily incorporate it into lessons.

"They wanted a made-in-Burnaby package they could walk through and pull out 
what they need," Waterhouse told the trustees, adding it would also 
complement what they were doing in the classroom.

There are four areas of ongoing work, he said: policy and procedure, 
extracurricular activities, problem identification and community-based 
intervention.

Information dissemination and prevention education are part of the 
substance abuse prevention strategy for students in grades 4 to 12 that he 
and others presented to the trustees.

Brenda Montagano, a teacher at Clinton elementary school, said the idea 
behind the plan is to stop drug abuse before it starts.

"Drug prevention is something I feel very strongly about, very passionately 
about, as a result of what I've seen at school and heard from students," 
she said, adding a strategy is definitely needed, even for the younger 
students.

"Our goal with this is prevention. We want to provide students with the 
skills and knowledge to deal with (drug abuse)," Montagano said. "Our goal 
as teachers is to equip our students to deal with real life, and today in 
our world, that involves substance abuse."

It was important to take a teacher-based approach to drug prevention 
strategies, Montagano said, and avoid having "one more thing" to teach in 
an already busy schedule.

For teachers who wouldn't have time to fit the plan into their 
instructional resource packages (IRPs), the kit includes step-by-step 
instructions and other resources, plus each activity has a list of goals.

"To the best of our ability, we tried to provide everything to the teachers 
that they might need," she said.

Tony, a Grade 12 student at Burnaby South spoke from experience - his own 
and seeing his friends.

He told the trustees how overwhelming it was for students entering 
secondary school to come up against drugs in situations they couldn't deal 
with and how he'd fallen into the trap, affecting his academic and social 
performance.

Tony eventually managed to turn his life around and now wants to help 
younger children. When he heard of the work being done at the district 
level, Tony knew he could be involved and contribute in a way adults couldn't.

"I feel it's much better for them (elementary students) to hear it from 
someone who's their own age," he said. "That helps me a lot because it 
makes me feel like I can actually do something."
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager