VENTURA : School Up for ‘Drug-Free’ Program Honor

Saticoy School in Ventura is one of seven California schools chosen to compete for a national award for its efforts to teach students about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse.

Nominated by the California Department of Education, Saticoy is among 150 schools nationwide vying to win an honor for having the best “Drug-Free” program in the United States. The national winner will be announced May 13.

Most elementary schools around Ventura County teach students about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse in health classes and through programs taught by local police officers.

But at Saticoy, teachers and counselors weave their lessons about substance abuse into many school activities.

Students in the first through third grades learn about the risks of alcohol use through puppet shows performed by teachers or older students. The shows’ scripts are written by a national alcohol-education association.

And the school offers support groups for children in the third through fifth grades who have a parent, sibling or other family member with an alcohol or drug problem.

One of the more unusual programs at Saticoy aims to help children who are particularly shy or quiet become bolder and more self-confident.

The idea, school counselor Dixie Rose said, is that young children who feel cut off from classroom or extracurricular activities may be at risk later in life of retreating into drug use or excessive drinking.

“Any child that has a different orientation to their school or to themselves or to their community is usually considered ‘at risk,’ ” Rose said.

Funded by a federal grant, the program gives individual children one 30-minute session per week with an adult trained by the county’s Mental Health Services.

In a specially designated playroom at the school, the adult follows the child’s suggestions for what the two should play or talk about.

“The person will follow the child’s lead, whether it’s in conversation, whether it’s playing,” Rose said. “It’s trying to empower the child.”

One measure of the program’s success is that it has a waiting list, Principal Nancy Bradford said.

When Saticoy launched programs six years ago to educate students about drug and alcohol abuse, school officials had to convince some parents to allow their children to participate.

Now, she said, many parents ask school officials to help their child cope with various problems, such as having a family member who is alcoholic or addicted to drugs.

“They come to us,” Bradford said. “Parents trust us to help their children.”