Continuation schools get grant to tackle alcohol abuse

By: BRENDA DURAN - Staff Writer | Tuesday, January 10, 2006 11:37 PM PST ∞

Marriage and family counselor Tom Lynch teaches a class at Twin Oaks High School in San Marcos on Tuesday. The school recently received a federal grant to jump-start the 'Tackling Alcohol Together' program aimed at preventing alcohol abuse among students at continuation schools. The school is one of five in San Diego County to receive money, including ones in Oceanside, Vista, Escondido and Poway.
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SAN MARCOS ---- Students at Twin Oaks High are among those at five North County continuation high schools who are learning about the consequences of alcohol abuse and ways to prevent it before it starts.

They are getting their lessons with the help of a $47,000 federal grant that pays for a program called "Tackling Alcohol Together."

Given through the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, the grant is designed to reduce the number of continuation school students who binge drink, through a three-year program that will provide new curriculum and resources specifically designed to increase awareness about alcohol abuse.

The San Diego County Office of Education received the grant on behalf of Twin Oaks and six other continuation high schools in the county. Continuation schools in Escondido, Grossmont, Oceanside, Poway, Sweetwater and Vista, along with Twin Oaks in San Marcos, were chosen out of 36 schools in the county to receive grant money to target at-risk students.

The grant will support mandatory training, reference materials and a class called "Reconnecting Youth," that addresses alcohol- and drug-abuse issues such as self esteem, peer pressure, myths and facts through a set curriculum.

"There is an absolute need for this grant," said Tom Lynch, a marriage and family therapist intern who teaches the class at Twin Oaks. "I think now the kids will better understand how much we want them to succeed and how much we care about helping them make better decisions in their lives."

With 207 students on the Twin Oaks High campus, principal Marc Steffler said the grant will effectively serve to address the biggest issues facing his students.

"Our population has a higher degree of abuse," said Steffler. "Many of our students are constantly struggling with alcohol and drug issues, and the statistics show that."

In a recent statewide report, continuation students were found to begin drinking at a younger age than their 11th-grade counterparts at mainstream high schools. More than 50 percent, compared with 26 percent of regular 11th-graders, reported binge drinking a least once in the last month, and continuation students also reported higher incidents of "drunkenness," according to the Continuation Schools Report by WestEd, a nonprofit research agency.

"This is not an easy group of kids to work with," said Lynch. "But with this unique approach, we are confronting one of the barriers of success."

Lynch began teaching the grant class "Reconnecting Youth" at the start of the school year, and said he has seen positive results from the students, who have confided in him about their problems with substance abuse among themselves and their peers.

Sophomore Bryan Castro, who is enrolled in the class this year, said that having the new resources available has taught him a lot about the consequences of abusing alcohol and made him more knowledgeable about the serious dangers involved.

"I've learned a lot," said Bryan. "It's made me think, 'Do I really want to do those things?' "

For Junior Justin Askari, the class has been an opportunity to vent, and in the process has helped him look at his decisions regarding drugs and alcohol more clearly.

"It's good that we have this class," said Justin. "It's a good place to evaluate ourselves and the things we do. It's helped me more than I thought."

Joyce Ernest, drug and violence prevention coordinator for San Marcos Unified, said the school will also be using the grant to help parents learn about the dangers of alcohol by helping pay for community events in the near future.

Overall, she said, the school is looking to send a clear message to its students with the new program.

"Our main goal is to make sure our students are aware of the consequences of what happens when they binge drink ---- car accidents, depression and a lot the times, death," said Ernest. "Hopefully, we will be able to save them from the No. 1 killer of teens."

Contact staff writer Brenda Duran at (760) 761-4408 or bduran@nctimes.com. To comment, go to www.nctimes.com.

To find out more about the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools grant program, see www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osdfs/index.html?src=oc