Jan 2006 :::

LT Community Advisory Council Minutes

January 18, 2006


Substance Abuse at LTHS


6:30 PM -Meet at South Campus library for tour of construction projects (pool, fieldhouse and theater)

7:00 PM –Meeting held at South Campus Library

LTCAC Call to Order and Announcements (7:20pm)

  1. Committee Reports
  2. Superintendent Report (Dr. Kelly)
  3. New Business (7:25 pm)


    1. Co-Chair Report
      1. Tom dispensed with formalities due to late start (school project tour ran long).
      2. Tom announced that the next meeting would be concerning School Climate, with concentration on the Peaceable Schools Initiative
      3. Angela mentioned that the Lion reported upon the alteration of the school year as discussed and recommended by LTCAC.

    1. Debbie Pusinelli was recognized as "Western Springs Woman of the Year for 2005"

    Angela Introduced three guest speakers on the topic of Substance Abuse: Maria Nieto from Pillars Community Services, Jennifer Fanta, LTCAC member and LT staff member and coordinator of the LTHS Student Assistance Program, and Dan Canavan with the Cook County’s sheriff Office-Youth Services
    1. Dan Canavan works in west Suburban Cook County in 38 suburbs to assist the schools and community coalitions that work with youths that deal with drug prevention programs. His work is funded by the Illinois State Department of Human Services-Substance Abuse Prevention.
    2. Maria Nieto works in drug prevention services with the non-for-profit foundation Pillars Community Services.
    3. Jennifer Fanta coordinates the Student Assistance Program of intervention, prevention and substance abuse programs for both campuses at LT
    4. Prevention Programs-Typically for students who are not substance abusers
      1. Operation Snowball-40 to 50 students on staff-retreat format
      2. Staff In-services-new staff information program
      3. Parent and Community Network-meet bi-weekly for planning Parent University, develop 2-newsletters a year and plan parenting workshops
      4. Co-Curricular Nights
      5. Red Ribbon Week-breakfast forum, feeder school luncheon for eighth graders
      6. Parent University
      7. Life Issues Program-Bi-Annually through the PE classes, workshops instead of gym classes
      8. TATU –Teens Against Tobacco Use-LT Students are trained through the American Red Cross and go to the feeder schools and work with students at that level
      9. Social Norming Campaign
    5. Intervention and Support-Typically for students that have attempted some form of substance abuse
      1. Student Intervention Teams- (students and teachers as evaluators) weekly meetings to review cases, anonymous evaluations by members-can be referred to Student Assistance Team. In 2004-2005 school year 77 students (45 NC and 32 SC were referred to the program and 60 experienced some type of intervention. Some of the community programs are too intense or student’s families cannot afford the costs of proper assistance.
      2. Support Group-there are other groups run by the LTHS social workers
      3. Concerned Others-for students who have a substance abuser in their life
      4. Aftercare – for students who have had a substance abuse problem
      5. Other groups as needed-Anger Management and Alternative School Group
      6. Alternative to Suspension Program
      7. Conflict Resolution
    6. Drug Information
      1. Alcohol-#1 illegal substance abused at LT
      2. Marijuana-Distant #2 substance abused at LT
      3. Prescription drugs
      4. Over the counter drugs
      5. Triple C – DEX –Coricidin
      6. Inhalants-used more by children younger that high school age
      7. Hallucinogenic
      8. Caffeine-Red Bull, Monster, etc.
      9. Heroin-dangerous due to inconsistencies of strength
    7. Why Teens Use
      1. Boredom
      2. Stress/self medicate
      3. Perception of peer pressure
      4. Society-Parental permission
      5. Experimentation
    8. Social Norms Marketing Campaign-Perceived substance abuse is higher than reality
      1. Promoting the Healthy Behavior of L.T. Students
      2. Promotion of the ‘norm’ or the majority’s healthy behaviors in order to improve a community’s health.

       

    9. Benefits of Social Norms Marketing
      1. Targets the population as a whole-abusers and non-abusers are benefited by the program.
      2. Increases parent, community, and student awareness of the positive traits and behaviors of the student body.
      3. Is a proactive approach
      4. Is research-based and proven effective-started at college level
    10. What is Social Norms Marketing?
      1. Using marketing techniques (posters, table toppers, letters sent home) to inform the student body what the norm of their peers is as opposed to the perceived norm
      2. Campaign messages are data driven from student surveys and focus groups
    11. Why do we want to promote the norm?
      1. Norms influence behavior
      2. Examples: Not using a cell phone in meetings/theatre.
      3. Stepping outside to smoke at the home of a nonsmoker.
    12. Which message promotes the healthy behavior of students?
      1. 1 in 5 L.T. Students Smoke! Be an individual and don’t smoke!
        More negative approach but the one used for funding and grants by focusing on the problem
      2. 84% of L.T. Students don’t smoke! Support the healthy decisions of your friends. New approach supporting healthy behavior as the norm.
    13. Why do we want to correct students’ misperceptions?
      1. Perceptions influence behavior-The Perceived Norm: 90% of peers drink (alcohol) Affects the student Belief: EVERYONE is doing it! If I don’t drink, I am in the minority and thus affects the students’ behavior: Based on this belief, students more likely to drink (Burkowitz, 2003)
    14. Change in Attitude = Change in Behavior
      1. Behavior stems from our thoughts and beliefs
      2. Can’t change a behavior long-term if you don’t change your thoughts on the behavior
    15. Effectiveness of Social Norms Approach
      1. Overestimation of peer use is a significant predictor of adolescent cigarette and alcohol use (D’Amico et al., 2001; Botvin et al., 2001; Graham, Marks, and Hansen, 1991)
      2. Onset of use can be significantly delayed by reducing misperceptions of alcohol and cigarette use among peers (Haines, Barker, Rice, 2003; Lickenbach and Perkins, 2003; Perry et al., 1992; Hansen and Graham, 1991).
    16. Local Research Using Social Norms in H.S.-(self-reported statistics)
      1. Sycamore H.S. (est. 1998) Use of alcohol in past 30 days decreased from 43.7% (‘99) to 30.4% (‘ 01). Use of tobacco in past 30 days decreased from 25.6% to 16.8%. National figures showed no decline.
      2. Evanston H.S. (est. 2001) Use of alcohol in past 30 days decreased from 46% to 41% (2003). Use of cigarettes in past 30 days decreased from 16% to 12% (2003)
    17. Additional H.S. Data- (self-reported statistics)
      1. Montana’s "Most of Us" (Are Tobacco Free) Campaign
      2. Control Counties: 17% of 12-17 yr. olds reported initiation of tobacco
      3. Counties using social norm campaign: 10% of 12-17 yr. olds reported initiation of tobacco
    18. Other Area High Schools using Social Norms
      1. Naperville
      2. Zion-Benton
      3. New Trier
      4. Fremd (Palatine)
      5. Maine Township District 207
    19. Social Norm Results- Decrease in College Level Heavy Episodic Alcohol Consumption
      1. Northern Illinois University (NIU) 44% over 10 years
      2. Hobart & William Smith Colleges (HWS) 40% over 5 years
      3. Rowan University (Rowan) 23% over 5 sem.
      4. University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) 21% over 2 years
      5. University of North Carolina (UNC) 30% over 5 years
      6. University of Arizona (UA) 29% over 3 years
      7. Western Washington University (WWU) 20% over 3 years
      8. Florida State University (FSU) 14% over 3 years
    20. The steps in Implementing Social Norms at LTHS
      1. Planning-underway for 1.5 years-consultant helping with planning
      2. Data collection and analysis-student survey (affiliated with University of Illinois) and assisted by Pillars taken October 2005-data has not been made public yet-2/27 statistics will be reviewed-results overall were positive-Center for Prevention and Research development designed the survey to be effective and identify actual trends in the student community
      3. Creation of messages and methods-College of Du Page is helping with developing the graphics for the posters for LTHS
      4. Test messages and techniques with student committees, focus groups and interviews
      5. Message Exposure
        1. Posters (change often)-samples were presented to LTCAC
        2. Post-cards / Billboards / Banners
        3. Message re-call events
    21. Social Norms Marketing Campaign
      1. Message Exposure to impactors
        1. teachers / staff
        2. community (hang-outs)
        3. family
        4. health professionals
      2. Follow-up surveys
    22. Posters alone don’t change behaviors
      1. This is part of a comprehensive approach to keeping students drug-free
      2. Students have to believe that the social norms are accurate and the "hype" is false.
    23. To learn more about Social Norms Marketing: www.socialnorms.org National Social Norms Resource Center, NIU
    24. Jennifer mentioned that she could use help with parent education. Social work done at LT is not therapeutic but more a referral mechanism. Usage does not seem to be on the increase, but it is an issue to be dealt with.
    25. Small Group Discussion and Recommendations-what else, if anything, should/could LT do to educate students, parents and staff about substance issues, to deter substance abuse and to assist LT families where there are issues of student substance abuse? (8:35 PM)

V. Table Feedback

Table 9

  1. Posters Everywhere
  2. Mail creative literature home to parents-postcards, magazines
  3. Bumper stickers, magnets, attention getting devices
  4. Parent Community Network Newsletter
  5. Snowball-have a second one in the spring? Allow more student participation
  6. A.C.E. (Athletes Committed to Excellence) Club for middle schools
  7. Cover this information in Health Classes
  8. Coaches and Sponsors should reinforce the code-distribute data to students
  9. More LT staff to get this work done-more Student Assistance Program coordinators

Table 8

  1. Alleviate the perception that high performers (i.e. athletes) may be treated differently than others
  2. Is "Zero Tolerance" zero tolerance or something else?
  3. Data collection needed to see if we are doing a good job, bad job or no job.

Table 7

  1. Student assistance should be supplied in proportion to the student population
  2. Focus on parental and community involvement and be supportive of the social norms program
  3. Provide student ability to be able to report drug issues with true anonymity
  4. Use role models in the social norm campaign- LT Students/Teachers/Parents
  5. At the Middle school level, student role models are especially important
  6. Community awareness of legal status regarding parental rights in regard to drug use-norms should be distributed to the community as well as to the students

Table 6

  1. Publish student survey results
  2. Include information regarding peer pressure for substance abuse at Future Freshman Night or similar venue
  3. Add posters from the Social Norms Campaign to the new website
  4. Encourage more parental involvement-something similar to co-curricular night
  5. Continue LT’s program with the possibility of adding additional staffing

Table 5

  1. Share survey results with feeder schools and the student’s parents. Parents need to be aware that younger students use drugs and know how they obtain drugs.

Table 4

  1. Make sure student surveys are administered in an environment (possibly larger setting than advisory) that fosters truthful and anonymous responses
  2. Present more opportunities for training students to handle stress
  3. Provide more support for the Student Assistance Program (add staffing)
  4. Creatively communicate to students the consequences of negative behavior
  5. Get Social Norms Campaign info distributed via website, LTTV, Lion, PCN Newsletter, newspapers and feeder schools
  6. Communicate the goals of the program to parents
  7. Make a parent survey part of the registration process

Table 3

  1. Get personal testimony from students for the posters
  2. Use LTTV for the Social Norms Campaign for student exposure and involvement
  3. Use website for parental exposure
  4. Emphasize positive trends at Parent University
  5. Provide funding to the students who need financial help with rehabilitation

Table 2

  1. School needs to treat the problem as 2 issues: prevention (Social Norms) and Prevention (zero tolerance)
  2. SAP need more personnel, possibly one person devoted to each campus
  3. Use focus groups to establish other means than posters to communicate the information of the campaign
  4. Integrate the campaign into the health/driver’s ed curriculum
  5. Conduct a parent survey to gather information about parental roles
  6. Should a distinction be made between the campuses? Are there different issues at each campus?
  7. Publish the student survey data

Table 1

  1. Send formal letters to parents
  2. Publish student survey results
  3. Social Norms Campaign imbedded into some other event like Co-Curricular Night
  4. Conduct a parent survey at open house and publish the results
  5. What is the long-range commitment to the Social Norms Campaign? 5 or 10-year plan?
  6. Parental education on the legal ramifications of parental behaviors-LT should take a harder stance
  7. Provide means for financial assistance for rehab programs
  8. Are posters the way to go? Comm period, Corral or PE might be better venues for getting the information out to the students

 

  1. Meeting Adjourns (9:05 pm)