Pubdate: Fri, 12 Jan 2007
Source: San Mateo County Times, The (CA)
Copyright: 2007 ANG Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/392
Author: T.S. Mills-Faraudo, staff writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)

ALTERNATIVE TO SUSPENSION CLASS HELPS BOND STUDENTS, PARENTS

Program Helps Kids Punished For Drug Or Alcohol Abuse  Find Voice,
Support With Adults

Jane Smithson became annoyed and angry with herself when her daughter
had to go to the emergency room after eating a marijuana brownie at
her high school prom.

After all, Smithson was a criminal defense lawyer who defended kids
her daughter's age. How could she be so unaware of what was going on
in her own child's life?

But she found she was not alone after meeting other  parents in
similar situations at the Alternative to  Suspension class, a program
that allows students in the  Sequoia Union High School District who
have been  punished for drug or alcohol use or aggressive behavior  to
reduce their suspension from five days to three.

Through the class, Smithson and her daughter were  taught about the
dangers and symptoms of drug and  alcohol use, as well as how parents
and teens can  communicate better with each other.

"I was able to sit in a room with my daughter and talk  about this
problem with out arguing about it," said  Smithson, who took the course
in 2005, when her  daughter was a junior in high school.

The program, established by Redwood High School  counselor Kiki
Gregoriante about four years ago, has  been so successful in the
Sequoia district, Gregoriante  hopes to expand it into other high
school districts in  San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. She plans to
bring  proposals to a number of local districts asking them to  start
up the Alternative to Suspension class.

In the program, the suspended student and their parents  or guardians
attend two three-hour night courses taught by counselors.

In the drug and alcohol class, some of the things covered include
signs of dependency, risks of substance  abuse and effects on the
body, messages teens receive  in the media about drugs and alcohol,
and  characteristics of healthy families. The  anger-management course
studies such things as communication skills and self-control.

Both classes give parents and kids a confidential  setting to discuss
their problems and learn how to  improve their relationships,
Gregoriante said.

"For the first time ever, we find that the parents get  to know their
kids and the kids get to know their  parents," she said.

Gregoriante also wants to expand another program she  helps run at
Redwood High called the Safe Place. The  Safe Place allows troubled
students at the school to  learn about goal-setting, boosting their
self-esteem,  managing anger, stress management and dealing with 
substance abuse and domestic violence.

Sequoia contracts with Gregoriante's company, DK &  Associates
Counseling Services, for roughly $38,000 per  year for her and her
staff to run the Alternative to  Suspension program.

While the class may not completely change students'  lives,
Gregoriante believes it's a starting point.

"They realize they're not alone," she said. "It gives  them a wake-up
call. It gives them a second chance to  change their behavior."

Floyd Burrell, one of the counselors for the class,  said he's seen a
lot of positive changes in the parents  and students who go through
the program.

Just recently, at a local gas station, he ran into a  parent who went
through the program. She honked her  horn as he walked by, because she
wanted to tell him  how much he had changed her family's life.

"She said it was the best experience of her life, and  her daughter
stopped using drugs and is now on her way  to college," Burrell said.

Parents, he said, can avoid going through a program  like this if they
just get more involved in their  teen's life. Often, Burrell said,
parents will become  less engaged in their kids' lives as they get
older.  But, he said, they should be doing just the opposite.

As for Smithson, her daughter, now 18, is doing well  and has just
finished her first semester at the  University of Colorado.

While she knows her daughter will be faced with drug  and alcohol use
in college, Smithson hopes she will  make the right decisions based on
what she learned in  the Alternative to Suspension program.

"It (the class) really woke us up," she said. "We  realized that
marijuana isn't just marijuana anymore.  It could have liquid Ecstasy
in it or other drugs. And  marijuana is also a lot stronger now."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin