Schools Seek Outside Help With Alcohol, Drug Projects

Because of what is being called an epidemic of drug and alcohol abuse, the Los Angeles school board is considering a plan for outside organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous to sponsor anti-abuse programs on senior high school campuses.

The school district already offers a wide range of drug-abuse programs of its own. Junior and senior high health classes have units on drugs and alcohol and their effects on the human body. Elementary classes also discuss drug-abuse issues. There are special programs such as Project DARE, or Drug Abuse Resistance Education, in which uniformed Los Angeles police officers teach elementary students how to think for themselves about drugs and how to refuse them.

But the proposal by school board members Roberta Weintraub and Jackie Goldberg is different. It would allow established, off-campus drug and alcohol diversion programs access to high school campuses before and after school and during lunch.

Help for Student Abusers

Underlying the Weintraub-Goldberg proposal is the assumption that some students are abusing chemicals and need more than preventive education. The sponsors believe such students might be helped by established, private-sector programs designed to divert them from substance use or abuse.

High schools would not be required to make use of any diversion program. But if the proposal is passed, the schools would have board approval to invite such programs onto campus.

If a high school decided to allow a diversion program to make a presentation to students, pass out literature or establish informal group meetings, student participation would be voluntary. All diversion meetings would be under the supervision of a credentialed school counselor.

In addition, the board would have to approve all diversion programs before they would be allowed to establish relationships with any high school.

The board discussed the proposal last week but delayed voting on the matter until its attorneys could review the district’s responsibility if groups were allowed to set up programs on high school campuses.

A report on the issue is to be made at today’s board meeting. If board attorneys give the go-ahead, the seven-member panel probably will approve the proposal, an informal survey indicates.

Would Be ‘Historic Step’

“If the board adopts this motion, it would be a historic step,” said Jay Cavanaugh, executive director of the Inter-Agency Drug Abuse Recovery Program, which operates clinics in Van Nuys, Newhall and Reseda. “We have tried for many years to be a service to the Los Angeles school district, but there have always been roadblocks. This motion would clear the way for a new era of cooperation, and hopefully a new era in combating teen-age substance abuse.”

Recent surveys show that in some regions of the nation, the use of drugs and alcohol by high school students is on the decline.

“In the Los Angeles area, we haven’t seen any such letup,” Cavanaugh said. “Without question substance abuse is at epidemic proportions here.”

Valley parents, teachers, drug rehabilitation counselors and some students agree that there is a great need for new initiatives to inform adolescents about abusing drugs and alcohol and to support students trying to stay sober.

Cavanaugh, for example, would like to establish support groups for students who have stopped using drugs and alcohol to help them stay off.

Safe Place on Campus

“When school starts, many of the kids who have stopped using drugs often start again,” he said. “They tell us that they want a safe environment during the school day. Someplace they can go so they don’t have to hang around kids who are loaded.”

A spokeswoman for the Van Nuys office of Narcotics Anonymous said any participation by her organization probably would come in the form of distribution of drug abuse hot-line numbers and information on the organization.

“We follow the steps and traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous. Participation in group meetings has to be voluntary and we want to keep participation anonymous,” she said. “We would be happy to appear at schools to educate and inform students about NA programs, but participation in any of our programs would have to be up to them.”

Clint Hawes, director of community services for the National Council on Alcoholism of the San Fernando Valley, said his organization would be willing to provide a variety of services from setting up support groups for non-user students to counseling for experimenters and chronic users.

“Data we have gathered prove to us that there is a definite correlation between student misbehavior, suspensions, expulsions, transfers, dropouts and substance abuse,” Hawes said. “We have to figure out an attractive way to get the message across to students that saying no is OK.”

‘Substance-Free’ Party

Chaminade Preparatory, a private Catholic school in Chatsworth, is trying to find new methods to help students avoid situations where overindulgence in drugs and alcohol may occur. It is offering a “substance-free” graduation party for its seniors.

With help from the Valley Women’s Center & Family Recovery Center, Chaminade students are planning a grad night party at Calamigos Ranch in Agoura, where no alcohol will be available.

“What we are trying to show the kids is that you can have a good time without abusing alcohol or drugs,” said Marilyn Brainard, prevention project coordinator for the Woodland Hills center.

What impact, if any, passage of the Weintraub and Goldberg proposal might have is difficult to measure.

“It would be a tragedy if we did not try to do something,” Weintraub said. “Certainly this is not a cure-all, but neither is anything else in this society.”