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<< Previous   of   Next >> (click to enlarge)   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Thursday, September 27, 2007 Granite Falls School District wins national award for efforts against drugs By Bill Sheets Herald Writer GRANITE FALLS -- Over the past six years, the number of teenagers who say they've used alcohol, marijuana and methamphetamine in this town has dropped sharply. Now, people with the Granite Falls School District are getting recognized for their efforts in making that happen. The district has won an award from the federal government for its substance-abuse prevention program, making it one of only four organizations nationwide to earn the honor this year. The district was nominated for the award by Julie Bartlett, substance abuse prevention coordinator for Snohomish County Human Services. The district and county agency, among others, work together on drug abuse prevention issues, Bartlett said. "I was just so proud of them for doing it," Bartlett said of the school district. The Science to Service Award, in its first year, recognizes agencies that have used evidence-backed programs to promote mental health or combat drug abuse. In all, 20 organizations nationwide were honored in four categories. It's given out by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Granite Falls Mayor Lyle Romack noted that it's the second national honor this year for the school district, with teacher Andrea Peterson having won the National Teacher of the Year award in the spring. "I'm just really proud of school system and what they're doing to help the city and help our kids," Romack said. About 2,100 students went through the six-year LifeSkills program from 2000 to 2006. In 2000, more than 32 percent of eighth- and 10th-graders said they used tobacco, alcohol or marijuana in the past month before the survey, district substance abuse coordinator Tom Arlt said. Now it's down to 13 percent, nearly a 20 percentage-point drop, said Arlt, who started the program. And the number of those kids who used methamphetamine also plummeted. In 2002, 6 percent of 10th-graders and 4.5 percent of eighth-graders reported using methamphetamine; those rates fell to 1 percent and zero, respectively, in 2006. The district numbers started out higher than those statewide and are now lower, Arlt said. Use of tobacco, alcohol and marijuana among eighth- and 10th-graders combined statewide dropped from about 21 percent to about 16 percent from 2000 to 2006. For methamphetamine statewide, the numbers dropped from 2.5 percent to 2.1 percent, according to Arlt's figures. Use is measured in anonymous surveys in which students are asked if they have used any of the drugs in the previous 30 days, said Kathy Grant, district spokeswoman. The surveys are considered to have a margin for error of plus or minus 3 percent. The LifeSkills curriculum used by the district was created about 20 years ago by Dr. Gilbert Botvin, a professor of public health and psychiatry at Cornell University. In recent years the program, based on its successes, has become one of the top three programs eligible for federal funding, according to Arlt. The program runs from grades three through eight. It starts by providing a foundation of social skills, self-esteem, communication and anger management, Arlt said. A lot of substance abuse comes from "a lack of knowing what else to do or the skills to handle the situation," he said. Several different formats are used, starting with lecture, then moving to discussion, demonstration and role-playing, "so they get comfortable with it," Arlt said. In sixth grade, the number of lessons jumps from eight to 18. That's when it's time to talk about the drugs themselves. Short-term effects are emphasized more than long-term. For example, tobacco's quickening of the heart rate and raising of blood pressure is stressed more than the long-term risk of lung cancer. The students, Arlt said, "aren't even thinking two weeks down the road, they couldn't care less about 30 years from now." The program, he said, focuses on "immediate effects on their bodies and their lives." Booster courses are given in grades seven and eight, and the district is now planning to introduce a high-school version that focuses on adult situations and decisions. Government grants of $192,000 have entirely funded the program over the course of the six years. The money pays for materials, teacher training, two part-time scheduling staff members and verification by outside consultants that the program is being run correctly. The federal government will fly district officials to Washington, D.C., in February to pick up the award.

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