County Schools Planning Drug Education Program

The San Diego County Office of Education on Thursday launched a new effort to develop a comprehensive drug education program for the county’s 43 school districts.

A steering committee made up of health, education, law enforcement and military representatives met for the first time to come up with a drug prevention program that will be offered to districts by the time school starts in the fall, said Lean King, director of the County Office of Education.

“Every year we identify a thrust. This year the focus is on drugs. We are using the summer months to put the pieces together for an ongoing program.” King said. “We hope to train every teacher in the county on substance abuse.”

He said the 24-member advisory committee will present a plan by Sept. 15 to the County Board of Education.

The County Board of Education and Office of Education has pledged $1 million to implement the program. King said $300,000 will come from state lottery funds, and more than $600,000 will come in the form of materials and personnel time.

Committee members decided Thursday that a consistent, countywide training program should be implemented for teachers in all grade levels, and that administrators and students should be involved in the effort.

King said the committee will look at a number of programs across the country before making its recommendation.

“If the county ran out and picked a program, I knew we would get nothing but criticism. But with enough minds together, we can get more support,” King said.

Committee members are: Navy Rear Adm. Bruce Boland; King, Alan Bright, Jim Esterbrooks and Peter Frank of the San Diego Office of Education; Tom Cieszynski, San Marcos Unified School District; Barbara Clark and Melinda Wilson-Newman, San Diego County Health Services; David Cleveland, Telesis II of California; James DeLeo, Professional School of Psychology, University of San Diego; Dick Dorsey, Santee School District; Persida Drakulich, professor, San Diego State University; Ed Fletcher and Nancy Seimers, San Diego Unified School District; Sharon Giles, Chula Vista City School District; Mark Greenberg, director of the Chemical Dependency Unit, Pomerado Hospital; Dianne S. Jacob, Jamul-Dulsura Union School District; Nina Kurtz, president, 9th District PTA; Mary Ann McCarty and Marsha Mooradian, San Dieguito Union High School District; Mick Meagher, Nova Vita; Stan Rodkin, Poway Unified School District; Jack Port, San Diego County Board of Education, and Lt. David Spisak, San Diego Police Department.