But a lot have not done those things and a majority of students seem to have a healthy dose of self-esteem.
The California Healthy Kids Survey provides Del Norte County Unified School District a peak into students’ tobacco, alcohol and drug habits, their sense of safety at school and their emotional wellbeing.
The survey is required of school districts that receive Tobacco-Use Prevention Education (TUPE) program and Title IV Safe and Drug-Free Schools funding.
Del Norte High School Assistant Principal Jeff Napier explained that it’s optional and anonymous. Every two years, fifth-, seventh-, ninth- and eleventh-graders take the survey.
Del Norte students have been taking the Healthy Kids Survey for the last 10 years. They last took the survey spring of 2008 and before that in the fall of 2005, which is the basis for comparison. However, too few fifth-graders took the last survey for the results to be valid, and they have been discounted.
Tracking students’ behavior
While none of the changes in student responses was drastic, there were some shifts in the numbers. Some highlights from survey results released recently:
• Fewer students are smoking cigarettes
• More seventh-graders are drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana
• Fewer eleventh-graders are drinking
• Fewer ninth- and eleventh-graders are smoking marijuana
• More ninth-graders report having a caring adult in their life
• More students report having high expectations of themselves
• More students feel connected to their school
• Fewer seventh-graders feel safe at school
• More ninth- and eleventh-graders feel safe at school
By tracking data, the school district can determine how to structure drug and alcohol prevention classes and “counter bad habits,” Napier explained.
District-wide, K-9 students take the “Too Good for Drugs” class funded with TUPE money and focuses on smoking, drug and alcohol prevention and getting kids involved in positive activities.
“The perception is that everyone is doing it,” Napier said looking at the survey data in front of him and noting that the majority of kids are not taking drugs. “Well no, not everyone is doing it.”
Battling influences outside school
One thing Napier has noticed is that parents and other adults have a profound influence on kids’ behavior — good and bad.
“The kids in the county are a reflection of adults in the county,” Napier said.
If parents are drinking heavily, doing drugs or not making healthy choices overall, the kids can follow down the same path.
The local culture can also affect student behavior. Napier pointed out that Del Norte sits just to the north of the Emerald Triangle where a large amount of marijuana is grown. The widely available drug is part of the culture of Northern California in general, and this can give kids the idea that it’s acceptable to smoke marijuana, he said.
“We’re combating the culture of the community,” he said.
It’s the school district’s job to give students the facts, Napier said, and help them make the right decisions.
Local student responses hover right around the state average, but still more Del Norte students are dabbling in drugs and alcohol than other California students.
On the flip side, more students reported having caring adults in their life, others have high expectations of them and feel connected to school — more so than the state average.
“I’m excited to see their assets are building,” Napier said. “They’re self-assured and feel good about themselves.”
When kids have these assets, he said, they are less likely to get into drugs and alcohol.
Different year, different responses
When Napier sees achievement or disappointment for a grade level in one aspect of the survey, he said it’s hard to know if it was the school district’s influence or just a different group of kids in a different place in time.
“Every class has it’s own personality,” he said.
For example, more ninth-graders in 2008 reported having caring relationships than ninth-graders did in 2005.
Ninth grade is a big transition year, he said, students typically feel more connected to teachers or administrators by the end of the school year. Having students take the survey in the fall one year and then in the spring two years later could have affected their answer.
Regardless, Napier said that the survey is an accurate tool to track students’ behavior and overall wellbeing.
The district will continue to track the data every two years even though there may be little to no money next year, he said. One of the budget proposals before the state legislature is to cut TUPE funding. TUPE is funded with tobacco taxes.
“In-house we don’t have a lot,” he said about being able to pay for prevention programs.
But, students are encouraged to been involved in extra curricular activities, Napier said, and the drug and alcohol prevention club Friday Night Live continues to grow. There is also counseling available for anyone caught using drugs or alcohol.
“If they feel better about themselves,” Napier said, “they’re less likely to do these things.”
