Countywide : Workshop to Stress Sober School Events

In an effort to reduce accidents caused by minors who drink at school proms and graduation night parties, a team of public and private agencies will hold a workshop in Camarillo Tuesday to promote sober, drug-free events.

The Sober Prom and Graduation Symposium will be held from 1:30 to 4 p.m. at the County Schools Conference Facilities, 550 Airport Way, Camarillo.

Admission is free and attendance is open to any parent, administrator, teacher or student. The workshop is sponsored by the nonprofit Ventura County Council on Alcohol and Drug Issues, the 12th District PTA, the Ventura County superintendent of schools and the county’s Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs.

Among those scheduled to speak is Principal Phil Jones of Downey High School, who will describe sober graduation programs his school has conducted the past five years.

Also scheduled to speak are Ventura County school officials and their supporters who have implemented drug-free school events. Linda Brewster of the Fillmore Optimists Club will speak about sober graduation parties that Fillmore High School has sponsored with backing from the club.

In Fillmore, school administrators and parents were alarmed after eight deaths were blamed on alcohol-related accidents in a five-year period, said Robert E. Gips of the alcohol and drug council.

Besides dispensing information and materials, the workshop sponsors will share the results of a questionnaire sent to all the county’s schools about their graduation activities. “The great majority who responded felt a countywide effort would be valuable,” Gips said.

One idea that has been proposed is a way for individual schools to pool the sometimes elaborate theme decorations used to draw students to sober graduation night parties, he said. “Props built for Simi Valley one year might be used in Santa Paula the next year, and the costs shared,” Gips said.

For further information, call the county Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs at 658-4177, the county superintendent’s office at 388-4412, or the alcohol and drug council at 643-6605.