Drug use about average, school survey says

Andrew Edwards

A survey on substance abuse and safety in the Huntington Beach City

School District shows drug and alcohol use among Surf City students

is on par with other California communities, with slight spikes in

alcohol and cigarette use.

But educators found positive indicators that suggest local

children are learning to lead healthy lives.

“We have around average amounts in the areas of alcohol, tobacco,

drug use,” said Lynn Bogart, assistant superintendent of curriculum

and instruction. Students in the fifth and seventh grades

participated in the California Healthy Kids Survey, which was

conducted in March. Results were presented to the board of education

on Tuesday. Students had to have their parents’ permission to answer

questions on use of chemical substances, campus safety and their

attitudes about school. The district conducted the survey in 2001 and

2003. This was the first time any fifth-graders participated.

The amount of seventh-graders admitting to smoking marijuana or

cigarettes hovered around the state’s baseline scores and the

district’s numbers from last year. In 2004, 8% of seventh-graders

claimed to have tried marijuana at least once, the same amount as

last year and in the California baseline score, which is based on the

2001 survey. Cigarette use in the district jumped slightly to 22%, up

from 20% last year. The statewide number was 21%.

Alcohol use among district seventh-graders also increased over the

past year, from 13% to 15%, above the baseline score of 10%, a number

that bothered school board President Catherine McGough.

“I don’t want anyone that age doing that,” she said.

The survey did not report the number of fifth-graders who used

alcohol, though the results show 4% of fifth-graders have tried

cigarettes and 1% have experimented with marijuana, indicating

substance abuse is present in Surf City’s elementary schools.

“The community just believes this is a perfect place to live and

the kids are not at risk, but I know that’s not true,” board member

Shirley Carey said.

When students were asked if they felt safe at school, 58% of

fifth-graders said they did, while only 16% of seventh-graders gave

the same answer. Bogart downplayed the idea that students feel like

they are in danger in the district’s schools.

The question, Bogart said, was very specific and asked students if

they felt “very safe at all times.” The question not only asked

students if they felt threatened by physical violence but also less

overt antisocial acts like teasing or bullying.

About one-quarter of seventh-graders said they worried about

getting beaten up in the past year, a number slightly less than the

state baseline but still too high, Carey said.

“In this town, that seems very, very low,” she said.

Educators saw some hopeful signs in the number of children who

reported what Bogart called “resiliency,” signs pointing to positive

growth that can lower the chances that students will exhibit risky

behavior. In all four questions relating to resiliency, having good

relationships with teachers, having high expectations from teachers,

meaningful participation at school and feeling connected with the

campus, the district’s students surpassed the state’s baseline

scores.

“The news is actually quite good when you look at the positive

ratings,” McGough said. “But then you want to look at what you can do

better.”