Pic Meeting Minutes

PiC Meeting Minutes January 25, 2016 6:30-8:00 PM

In Attendance: Kelley Edwards, Liz Robison, Alex Robison, Dep Chief John Carbone, Officer Joe Popovich, Marc Goldstein, Melanie Eliot, Mike Baker, Mike BonTempo, Betsey Chadwick, Cristal DePietro, Maina Carey, Cherie Green, AJ Rai, Chris Horvath, Sandra Neumann, Lauren Martinez, Cheryl Church

Call to Order: 6:49 PM by Edwards

Approval of November 2015 minutes: Tabled until 2/2016.

Announcements from Members: Edwards spoke about the marijuana event happening at the state Capitol on February 10. There will be a rally and press conference beginning at 10:30 am, and we will meet with Senator Art Linares and Rep Jesse Maclachlan at noon to discuss concerns surrounding legalizing marijuana. Mike BonTempo and Alex Robison are planning to attend this rally, along with possibly 2 other Morgan students.

This is an important educational event for legislators. We plan to give them information on ways that marijuana harmfully affects the teenage brain, and also to share the negative consequences of legalization coming out of Colorado. It is expected that a bill will be presented during this session of the legislature that will legalize recreational marijuana; therefore it is imperative that constituents speak out about their concerns.

Review of Needs Assessment and Strategic Plan Input: Edwards posted statistics about marijuana and alcohol use by Clinton teens, as well as perceptions of harm of use, peer approval rates, and parent disapproval rates. The group reviewed these along with arrest stats from the last 3 years, supplied by Dep Chief Carbone. Edwards explained the top risk factors that DMHAS requires we examine as we create our strategic plan: low perception of harm from using marijuana, peer and family norms that encourage use of marijuana, access to marijuana is high, and low perceived enforcement of school and athletic department rules surrounding marijuana use by student-athletes.

The group broke into four committees, each examining one of the risk factors (except for low enforcement, which is being handled separately). Each committee discussed their risk factor and brainstormed ways that their sector might contribute to addressing the issue. These ideas will be used by the sub-committee that will be meeting during February to develop the 4 year strategic plan for Clinton. Some key points:

Carbone explained that juvenile laws prohibit the police from reporting arrests under the age of 17 to the school. This may limit the ability of the school to have proof that students are acting illegally and may factor in to coaches being able to punish students for breaking rules.

Clinton received a grant to have one of our officers trained as a DRE- Drug Recognition Expert. Officer John Harkins will be trained this spring as a DRE and will be on call, similar to the K9, for his expertise. The DRE is an important addition to the Clinton Department, as this officer will be able to identify if an individual is impaired and what substances an individual has ingested.

The K9 officer has been effective in limiting the marijuana that is brought to school, according to students and parents. The reaction to frequent K9 searches has been what one would hope- that students are afraid to bring anything into the building or even parking lots that might be found by the dog. This is an effective prevention practice that is supported by Clinton’s administrators. Parents in the PiC meeting asked how to make more searches happen during the school year, and it was suggested that emails be sent to the Board of Education requesting them.

Students felt that education on the real dangers of marijuana needs to happen. They felt that peer to peer programs work better than adults preaching. Students also felt that if they shared factual information with parents that would also be effective. Parents need to know the difference between marijuana in the 70s and marijuana now. Students also felt that recent graduates have access to a myriad of substances and they are bringing them back to Clinton and giving them to current students.

Students also shared that fun, healthy alternatives to using marijuana for stress release and socializing might be helpful. Another idea shared by students was to create and maintain positive norm campaigns using social media. They felt it would be useful to popularize healthy fun choices and behaviors by spreading them on media like Instagram, Twitter and SnapChat.

The committee that will be working on the strategic plan will create a schedule of meetings in February. Edwards will email a survey to determine best times and days for these meetings.

Meeting adjourned at 8:25 PM.