Newport-Mesa district OKs partnership to fight student drinking

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District will continue to collaborate with the Orange County branch of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence to try to reduce drinking among students, the school board decided Tuesday.

The chapter is an affiliate of the New York-based national council, a volunteer health organization that aims to combat alcoholism and drug addiction through referral services, intervention programs and school-based prevention and education.

The Orange County council’s new agreement with the district begins July 1 and ends in late June 2018.

According to Newport-Mesa school resource officer Vlad Anderson, the group has already helped the district with alcohol and drug education efforts, including the Every 15 Minutes program about drunk driving held this month at Corona del Mar High School. Students watched Newport Beach police and firefighters tend to the scene of a mock car crash.

“The NCADD assisted us with getting the speakers and the literature for Every 15 Minutes,” Anderson said. “With this partnership, we want to continue to emphasize our commitment to assisting youth in the community and addressing anything that might impair the success of these students.”

Under the agreement, Newport-Mesa and the council will cooperate on educational presentations to middle and high school students, parents, teachers and administrators.

The council will provide at least two presentations each semester on the consequences of underage drinking, deconstructing the alcohol industry’s marketing and media strategies and building resistance skills.

The group also will work with school PTAs and on-campus prevention efforts to provide information about curtailing underage drinking.

Anderson said times such as spring break, which this year begins for Newport-Mesa after April 1, and high school graduation usually raise strong concern among parents and law enforcement about underage drinking.

“It is a period where a lot of youth engage in alcohol consumption,” Anderson said. “That’s why we did Every 15 Minutes, to put the seed in people’s minds about responsibility and the danger of engaging in that type of activity, because it can really impact someone’s life. Don’t think it could never happen to you.”