APTOS, Calif.- Parents, if you have kids in Santa
Cruz County, you
need to know there's an increasing issue with drug and alcohol abuse. Now administrators at Aptos
High School are trying to jump
ahead of the curve and get the word out before it becomes an even bigger issue
to tackle.
Pot, prescriptions drugs and alcohol, and it's all within
your kids reach. Now teachers, law enforcement and community leaders want
parents to start paying closer attention to their kids. But we wanted to find out why people in Aptos
are calling a special meeting to discuss the issue of abuse.
"I think anybody that's got kids in that age range junior high and high
school is worried and concerned about that kind of stuff and we hear about it
and we talk about as parents," said parent Andrew Townsend.
Townsend lives with his kids in Aptos and while they go to a charter school in Santa
Cruz, he's well aware of the substance abuse issue in
his hometown. Aptos High School assistant principal Rich Moran said he's
hoping more parents will follow Townsend's lead after Thursday night's town
hall discussion. Moran said it's hard to
quantify exactly how many students in the Pajaro
Valley School District
are dealing with a drug or alcohol addiction because a lot of kids who have a
problem don't get in trouble at school.
"Anecdotally,
from what I hear from students and conversations with them and conversations
with parents and conversations with members of the community, a number of our
students deal with it," said Aptos High School assistant principal Rich Moran.
But on a website called California Healthy Kids Survey, you can see just how
prevalent the issue of marijuana use is around the state. For the Pajaro
Valley Unified School
District, 12% of females in 11th grade
said they had used marijuana within the past thirty days (data taken between 2008-2010). But statewide, only 8% said they used within the
same time period.
While that may seem like a small percentage, counselors said a lot of it goes unreported-that's why Aptos is bringing the experts in to
inform parents.
"One of the issues they're really concerned about for
their students. They want to keep kids involved in academics, want to
make sure they have the most opportunity for success," said Santa
Cruz County
prevention program manager Brenda Armstrong.
Administrators plan to take information from this
community discussion and share with more parents down the line. There will a second meeting at Aptos High School. For more information contact the school at (831) 688-6565.
