NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Talk of the Sound recently obtained several reports and other documents related to School Safety and Security in the New Rochelle school system from the period 2009 to 2012. Some are low quality photocopies. We will present several of them over the coming weeks.
In 2009, 2010 and 2011 there were comprehensive reports on 5 Elements: (1) Safe School Environments and Violence Prevention Activities; (2) Alcohol and Drug Prevention Activities; (3) Student Behavioral, Social, and Emotional Supports; (4) Mental Health Services; (5) Early Childhood Social and Emotional Learning Programs.
To the best of our knowledge these annual reports were never shared with the public. We are publishing 5 articles based on the 5 Elements contained in the the 2012 report that covers 2009, 2010 and 2011.
This is the second of the five:
Element 2: Alcohol and Drug Prevention Activities
Goal 2: To prevent and reduce substance use among New Rochelle youth.
Objective 1: There will be a 10% increase in perception of perception of parental disapproval of alcohol use from the baseline school year (2008-2009) to the end of the fourth year (2011-2012).
Objective 2: There will he a 10% decrease in the number of students who report past 30 day marijuana use from the baseline school year (2008-2009) to the end of the fourth year (2011-2012).
Objective 3: There will be a 10% decrease in the number of students who report past 30-day alcohol use from the baseline school year (2008-2009) to the end of the fourth year (2011-20l2).
To assess Objectives 1 through 3, data were collected from the students through the Communities That Care (CTC) Youth Survey, which was administered to students in grades 6, 8, 10, 12 in May 2009, 2010, and 2011.
In 2011, regarding Objective 1, 71.9% of students indicated that their parents feel it would be very wrong if they drank alcohol regularly, which is an increase from baseline year of 2009 (67.6%) and 2010 (70.1 %). In 2011, students in 6th grade reported the highest rate of parental disapproval of 91.4%, followed by 8th graders (79.3%), 10th graders (59.8%) and 12th graders (45.0%).
In 2011, regarding Objective 2, 13.5% ofstudents reported past 3D-day marijuana use, which is an increase from 2009 (13.2%) and 2010 (12.3%). In 2011, students in 6th grade reported the lowest past 30-day use of 0.6%, followed by 8th graders (9.1 %), 10th graders (22.5%) and 12th graders (30.9%). Compared to the national norms from the Monitoring the Future study, 8th, 10th, and 12th graders reported higher rates of past-30-day marijuana use.
In 2011, regarding Objective 3, 29.3% of students reported past 3D-day alcohol use which is a decrease from baseline year of2009 (33.1 %) but an increase from 2010 (28.6%). In 2011, students in 6th grade reported the lowest past 30-day use of 6.0%, followed by 8th graders (22.9%), 10th graders (42.4%) and 12th graders (63.5%). Compared to the national norms from the Monitoring the Future study, 8th, 10th and 12th graders reported higher rates of past-30-day alcohol use.
The activities that are being funded by the Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/IIS) grant initiative under this element are the Staying Connected with Your Teen program, the SMART (Skills Mastery and Resistance Training) Moves program, Project SUCCESS (Schools Using Coordinated Community Efforts to Strengthen Students) and CMCA (Communities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol).
Staying Connected with Your Teen Program
There have been a 20 Staying Connected with Your Teen program series conducted, with all except two in Spanish. There have been nine series conducted since February 1 ,2012 with 117 participants. The program is a seven session series with each sessions held for an hour and a half in the evenings at the New Rochelle High School or at a community office building. Promotional materials in both English and Spanish have been distributed at various locations throughout the city to recruit parents to this program. To increase parent participation, incentives are provided in the form of a grocery gift cards. These gift cards have increased recruitment as well as the Coordinator’s outreach efforts.
SMART (Skills Mastery and Resistance Training) Moves
The SMART Moves program wa’> implemented at all three Boys & Girls Clubhouses during the 2010-2011 school year and organized by a SMART Moves Coordinator. SMART Moves, a prevention/education program, includes age appropriate role-playing, activities to practice resistance and refusal skills for ATOD and sexual activity, and discussions to develop decision making skills and assertiveness. Each year the program begins in the fall and continues through the school year. During the 2010-2011 school year, there were 168 youth who participated in the SMART Moves programs with programs offered at each or the three Clubhouses. While most of the SMART Moves programs serve the youth participating at the individual clubhouses, the SMART Girls programs have been designed to bring girls from the entire Boys & Girls community together. The SMART Moves program, which has provided structured and focused small group work, has allowed Boys & Girls Club staff to better address the individual needs and concerns of the youth. In the summer of 2011, the SMART Moves program served eight groups with a total of 110 boys and girls ages 5-15 during their six week summer program held at the Mascaro clubhouse. The SS/HS Bullying Prevention Coordinator provided bullying prevention sessions to youth during the summer program. This has reinforced the work being done in the elementary and middle schools.
In the fall of 2011, planning and training meetings for SMART Moves facilitators were held. The SMART Moves programs were organized and then initiated within the after school program at two of the three Boys & Girls Clubhouses. The Respect Clubhouse did not implement an after school program at the beginning of the school year due to changes in leadership.
The SMART Girls program for 8-12 year aids, which brings together girls from all clubhouses for monthly 2 hour workshops, has continued their collaboration with the Junior League Westchester on the Sound (JLWOS). Each monthly event is organized around a health promotion theme such as positive friendships, decision-making, bullying, and alcohol prevention. The JLWOS plans these monthly events with the SSIHS funded SMART Moves Coordinator. The SMART Girls Strive group for middle school and high school girls has also been designed to serve girls from all clubhouses and is held in the Doyle Center, a multi-use Community Center. The popularity of the SMART Girls groups has led to the request from male youth for similar groups. The planning of boys only groups began in September 2011. An unforeseen barrier was the lack of male leadership for these groups. These groups have just recently been launched.
CMCA (Communities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol)
The CMCA program, which is a community organizing approach designed to change policies and practices in order to reduce access to alcohol by teenagers, was added into the SS/HS initiative through a program change in the summer 20 II. The CMCA in New Rochelle had been funded through another federal grant (the GRAA grant) for three years so it was an established program. A phone conference was held in the fall 2011 with Wendy Mayer, the Communication Specialist, as well as the Project Director, Local Evaluator, and the part-time CMCA Coordinator and Supervisor. The 8-step Communication Model was discussed including ways to establish an effective social marketing campaign. The CMCA Coordinator updates the New Rochelle community coalition website (New Rochelle Focus: www.nrfocus.org) which provides educational information for parents including relevant articles on underage drinking. The Coordinator continues to oversee the creation of a campaign for students as well as for parents with the goal to reduce underage drinking and increase the perception of risk. An online survey was created to get parental feedback on the newly designed “Be A Parent” campaign. This campaign will be launched prior to the high school prom and graduation. In addition, Lhe Coordinator has been working with the police department to promote the scheduling of compliance checks and house party patrols as well as conducting trainings for police on alcohol enforcement.
Project SUCCESS (Schools Using Coordinated Community Efforts to Strengthen Students)
Project SUCCESS, which is a program that prevents and reduces adolescent substance use and abuse, was added into the SS/HS initiative through a program change in the summer 2011. There are three trained social workers (Project SUCCESS counselors) in the schools who provide a full range of substance abuse prevention and early intervention services. There is one bi-lingual Project SUCCESS counselor who splits her time between the two middle schools and two Project SUCCESS counselors in the high school where there is a higher prevalence of substance use among students as welt as a large student body of 3,350 students. The Project SUCCESS Counselors implement the Prevention Education Series which is an eight-session alcohol, tobacco and other substance prevention program. There are four classroom topics each designed to be covered in two class sessions. The Project SUCCESS Counselor at the middle schools implements the Prevention Education Series in the classroom while the Project SUCCESS Counselors at the high school implement the Series in the small groups. The Project SUCCESS Counselors also conduct individual sessions and group counseling at school to students following participation in the Prevention Education Series and an individual assessment. During the 2011-2012 school year, the total number of unique individuals seen by the Project SUCCESS counselors has been 733 (408 in the high school and 325 in the middle schools). The majority (60%) of referrals came from the Prevention Education Series, followed by 21% self-referrals, 5% newcomers, 4% the principal, 3% the guidance counselors, 3% faculty, 1% school social worker 1% school psychologist, and 2% other.
The Project SUCCESS Counselors have conducted 109 health promotion events in the schools to increase the perception of harm of using substances and positively changing social norms about substance use. These have included announcements to bring awareness to the drunk/drugging driving issues, bulletin boards with facts and information posters, red ribbon week activities, Great American Smokeout activities, and during the holidays flyers were posted around the building to outreach to students who were having difficulty around the holiday season, listing names of individuals in the building that students could talk to if they needed support.