Safe and Drug-Free Environments

Introduction The R3CC staff encourage you to use the Safe and Drug-Free Environments Focus Area as an information source and as a means for navigating the many other resources available on the internet. A brief introduction to some of the issues involved in creating safe and drug-free environments follows.

Despite recent trends showing decreases in student drug abuse and violence, the illegal use of alcohol and other drugs is still a widespread problem throughout the United States. Indeed, most recently, many of these trends have reversed themselves, indicating that drug abuse and violence among our school-aged population are increasing. Among the graduating class of 1996, 50.8 percent of students had used an illicit drug by the time they reached their senior year of high school, continuing an upward trend from 40.7 percent in 1992 but still far below the peak of 65.6 percent in 1981. Use of any illicit drug in the preceding year (annual use) by seniors increased from 27.1 percent in 1992 to 40.2 percent in 1996 after steadily declining from a peak of 54.2 percent in 1979. The percentage of seniors who had used an illicit drug within the preceding month (current use) increased from 14.4 percent in 1992 to 24.6 percent in 1996. The proportion of high school students using alcohol had dropped last decade, but is now on the rise again. Monitoring the Future Survey on Drug Abuse The percentages of public secondary school teachers reporting weapons possession as a moderate or serious problem in their schools nearly doubled from 1990­91 to 1993­94 from almost 11 percent to about 20 percent. How Safe Are the Public Schools: What Do Teachers Say? Issue Brief, 1996

The role of the school must be to create an environment in which children can learn and grow toward becoming healthy adults. For that to happen, children's emotional, social, health, and developmental needs must be met.

These statistics are only a few of the many indicators that show an upward trend both in drug abuse among students and school violence. These indicators are critical considering that students who drink or use illicit drugs miss school more often, receive lower grades, and are less likely to graduate from high school than those students who do not engage in these behaviors. In addition, schools and communities plagued by violence are often unable to focus on providing students the academic programs they need. Amidst these grim realities, the role of the school must be to create an environment in which children can learn and grow toward becoming healthy adults. For that to happen, children's emotional, social, health, and developmental needs must be met. School environment encompasses both the school and its community, its culture, its physical aspects, as well as freedom from drugs and violence. A school environment provides the cornerstone for academic reform. By providing an equitable, accessible, healthy, supportive, secure and safe surrounding, the school and community support the educational goal that all children shall attain challenging and high standards, both personal and instructional. To ensure that this environment is conducive to teaching and learning, all stakeholders­ including parents and community members­ must be involved and committed to this shared vision and provide staff and students with the support that will enable them to achieve this vision.

Effective safe and drug-free school programs are based on teaching students to become good decision makers and to feel connected with their school and community.

Most effective safe and drug-free school programs are based on teaching students to become good decision makers and to feel connected with their school and community. A summary of the research, provided by the Western Regional Center for Drug-Free Schools and Communities, describes the components of most successful programs. A decision-making and problem-solving process which everyone in the school understands and which includes teachers, staff, administrators, community members, parents, and students; Activities that reduce the impersonality of the school environment; Administrative strategies aimed at effective management of the process of improvement required in a school to enable it to meet the constant demands of a changing environment; Curricula that encourage the students' sense of accountability; Strategies that promote community volunteer efforts in the schools; Instructional methods that extend on an equitable basis realistic opportunities for more students to gain meaningful rewards and an opportunity for each student to experience success in at least one area of competence; Strategies that promote or maintain positive relations between schools and families; Administrative support for teachers for activities in classrooms; Instructional methods and administrative policies that avoid labeling students and putting students in special groupings; Academic courses that are relevant to students; Teachers who are effective classroom managers and who understand the importance of the information dynamics of the classroom; Opportunities for teachers to participate in identifying areas of training desired and in providing the opportunity to share and discuss problems with groups of colleagues; and Opportunities for students to have adequate contact time with teachers and other adults as a means to prevent feelings of alienation on the part of adolescents.