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Parents concerned by youth survey results

Findings on alcohol and drug use shock many Parent Advisory Council meetings have been dominated over the last few weeks by concerns surrounding a youth survey done earlier this year.

Findings on alcohol and drug use shock many

Parent Advisory Council meetings have been dominated over the last few weeks by concerns surrounding a youth survey done earlier this year.

The survey questioned kids in Grades 6 through 12 about attitudes toward school, community, home and peers, and their use of alcohol and other drugs.

Some of the findings, while no different from the results of other surveys done in B.C. and across Canada, were shocking to parents.

One parent at Whistler Secondary’s PAC meeting this week said he was so concerned he spoke to his kids at length and told them he was prepared to leave the community if they thought it was a problem.

The survey was done last May and June by the Communities That Care project. Made up of over 40 community representatives from the police to the schools, Communities That Care uses an evidence-based program developed in the U.S. to help communities build positive, healthy futures for their youth.

The survey revealed that more than two thirds of local youths from Grade 6 to Grade 12 have used alcohol in their lifetime.

Almost half reported drinking in the 30 days prior to the survey date and almost a quarter reported smoking dope in the same period.

The survey also found that 59 per cent of youths in Grade 11 had come to school drunk or high at least once in the previous year. Overall 24.8 per cent of surveyed students from Whistler had done the same thing.

The survey, which questioned 355 of the 432 students in those grades, also showed that there is almost no anti-social behaviour by the youths in the resort, such as car theft, and that most had a strong attachment to their parents and their families.

However, one disturbing finding was the belief by students that their parents would not be that upset if they found out their kids were using drugs or alcohol.

"This framework gives us a risk and protective factor approach to preventing problem behaviours," said Deanne Zeidler, co-chair of the risk and protective factors steering committee for the project.

"This gives us specific information on our community which is linked to programs that work," Zeidler told parents at Myrtle Philip.

"The most important thing is not that we have the survey results. It is what we do afterwards.

"We want to move forward and protect our kids."

And what is important here, said Zeidler, is that the results along with many other pieces of information are giving the community a picture of what it looks like.

Some parents’ felt the survey was invalid because many of the students they have since spoken to said they treated the survey as a joke.

However, pointed out school trustee Don Brett, while there may be some surveys that are invalid because of that student approach, the results are in-line with other surveys done provincially.

"This is totally consistent with the surveys done across B.C.," said Brett.

Parents at Myrtle Philip’s PAC meeting also raised questions about the survey and the norms it portrays.

One parent pointed out that many parents would offer older children a drink with dinner. Those students would have answered yes to questions about using alcohol.

Some students were also very upset that the survey was public as they had understood the results would be confidential, another parent pointed out at the Myrtle Philip PAC.

Experts from the U.S. based Channing Bete company, which designed the program, will be in Whistler next month to help the Communities That Care group further interpret the survey results and look toward future planning.

Teacher-Librarian at Whistler Secondary

Budgets were shuffled so that a teacher-librarian position could be posted in the last month, trustee Don Brett told the Whistler Secondary PAC this week.

But, as feared, no qualified people have applied for the position yet. The search will continue.

Pemberton and Whistler high-schools to join forces

A task force to look into graduation program delivery at the two schools has been struck by the school board, said trustee Don Brett.

The objective is to enhance the range and the number of course offerings in Grades 10, 11 and 12.

Several things will be considered as part of this including increasing electronic learning opportunities, transporting students and/or teachers between schools and considering course requests and requirements from students currently in Grades 9, 10, and 11 in both schools.

The task force will wrap up its work in time for implementation in the 2004-2005 school year.

"This is a response to the long standing concerns by parents in Whistler and Pemberton about course selection," said Brett.

Walkabout at Whistler Secondary

Teacher and parent Alison Hunter got Whistler Secondary’s PAC approval to try and introduce a Vancouver school program called Walkabout.

The program gets parents into the school to meet teachers and learn about the courses their kids are taking in the school. Parents get handouts from the teachers about course material, assignments and learning outcomes.

It’s hoped the system would be in place for the next semester.