Drugs, alcohol are a major factor in school truancy

By Steve Londino

Regarding April 24 Herald article, “Chronic truancy raises alarm,” as a chemical dependency counselor, I had to respond due to one issue not taken into consideration.

That is the use of alcohol and drugs by both students and their parents. I used to work as an intervention/prevention specialist at Glacier Peak and Snohomish High schools (2006-09 school years), Sultan High School (2006-08 school years) , Lynnwood High School (2010-12 school years) and Granite Falls and Crossroads High Schools) (2013-15 school years). The common denominator I found in each school related to absenteeism was alcohol and drug use by students.

When I started working at Snohomish High School and the Freshman Campus (later Glacier Peak High School) I had four weekly groups in the two schools and met with students individually. I started with 10 to 15 students who met with me over the year. By the time I left in 2009, I was working with 254 students; some started with me in ninth grade and continued with me to until their junior year. I left the next year because funding was cut.

At that time, opiates use was escalating. I found this to be similar in all the schools I worked in over the years. As they got to know me, they were willing to talk with me about personal issues; not necessarily alcohol and drug related. I noticed that a majority of these students would fall in the truancy category listed in the article. Some of the things I heard from all was that school was boring, they felt out of place, they were recovering from being up late at night or out all night partying. As they got to know me over the year, they started coming to school to attend my groups or meet with me. Then they started attending classes more often. In each of these situations funding was cut for the intervention and prevention positions.

Another issue I found in common at all the schools was suspensions and expulsions for alcohol and drugs. Students were given 30- to 45-day suspension; reduced to five to 10 days if they got an alcohol and drug assessment and followed recommendations. Students got behind in classes and eventually gave up when they realized they were not going to graduate.

I believe a possible solution to this issue is to fund intervention and prevention specialist in the schools. It gives the students someone to talk with about issues related to their lives. I know there are school counselors; however, what I found was that these counselors were so overworked with scheduling and school issues. They rarely had time to meet with students who were failing and get to know them or work on the student’s issues.

I would like to have the newspaper investigate how substance abuse affects truancy and how to help these students. One area you can look to for information is the state Department of Health’s Healthy Youth Survey.

Steve Londino lives in Lynnwood.