ORANGE : Parent Sees Fruits of Anti-Drug Effort

When 50 students from Jordan Elementary School’s “Just Say No” club meet privately this week with former First Lady Nancy Reagan, one parent will be particularly proud.

Last year, Donna Weber of East Orange single-handedly launched the group which has been named Orange County’s “exemplary club” for 1990. Reagan, national honorary chairwoman for “Just Say No,” will attend a special school assembly at Jordan on Thursday and then will meet with club members to answer questions.

Weber, 41, had a personal reason for wanting to participate in substance abuse prevention at Jordan. Six years ago her younger brother, who she said was a crack addict and gang member, was shot and killed in what Weber calls “a bad drug deal.”

After losing his job, he had come to live with Weber, her husband, Larry, and their three daughters. Weber discovered him using drugs in the house and asked him to leave. Weeks later, he was dead.

“I don’t know whether something like ‘Just Say No’ would’ve made a difference to my brother,” Weber said quietly, “but it would make a difference for some people.”

Weber learned of the “Just Say No” training in 1987 while she was Jordan’s liaison to CASA, a community organization that works with schools on issues such as child abuse and drugs.

Describing herself as shy, Weber recalls how she dumped her trademark jeans and sweat shirt in favor of high heels and a skirt to meet with a local bank vice president about obtaining support for the club. The result was the formation of an annual bank-employee bake sale plus $350 the executive raised from his Rotary Club--enough to buy starter kits for the group.

“Her enthusiasm really carried that whole idea along,” said Pam Carlson, who as Jordan PTA president often helped Weber implement her fund-raising plans. “She’d call me and say, ‘I really want to do this and I need to do it by tomorrow.’ ”

After a year of fund raising, Weber in 1988 organized an event to mark the club’s opening that would emphasize a long-term commitment from the school and be memorable for the students.

“I told the principal I’d like the mayor here and I’d like the fire chief, I’d like the vice president of the bank here. I want everybody here,” Weber recalled. “He didn’t think anyone would come.”

But come they did to christen the club. And now, at the request of officials of the Orange County “Just Say No” organization, Nancy Reagan will honor the group as it completes its second year.

Last fall, students crammed the library for the year’s first “Just Say No” meeting. Membership has leveled off, but more than a quarter of the eligible fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders participate.

Kris Jensen, John Cortez and Scott Laurel, all Jordan sixth-graders, said they joined the club for fun but said they think “Just Say No” lessons also help prepare them for situations they may confront at junior high next year.

With the club established and with her youngest daughter graduating from Jordan this year, Donna Weber has shifted most of her time to helping the homeless. Three teachers and two parents now run the semimonthly lunchtime meetings. Role playing and exercises to build self-esteem help prepare the students to “say no.” PTA’s Carlson says the club has just begun to reach its potential.

“What I’m hoping for our school is that this big event will be a watershed for a lot of parents who will say, “Gosh, we really have to keep this kind of thing going on,” Carlson said.