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Portage Area plans to address substance abuse

Reports show students’ usage of drugs, alcohol has increased

PORTAGE — After receiving troubling reports regarding students’ usage of alcohol and other illegal substances, Portage Area School Board members are looking to educate students and prevent further substance usage.

At the district’s board meeting last week, high school Principal Ralph Cecere said that a survey of students from the 2016-17 school year showed an increase in drug and alcohol usage.

The report was created by the Remembering Adam program, an organization that administers random drug screenings and surveys to promote healthy lifestyle choices.

Cecere said the Portage Area School District had the highest rate of students that admitted to using marijuana, which was 11 percent higher than the next highest district that implements the Remembering Adam program.

While the results were troubling, Cecere said they were slightly skewed by “the significant amount of students that participate in the program.”

“We have the most students out of any district that participated in the program,” Cecere said, adding that the district has more than 300 students currently enrolled in the program.

“With the amount of students in the program, it’s not uncommon for the results to be a little higher,” he said.

Superintendent Eric Zelanko said that while the district does have a high turnout for the program, he believes the district still has much work to do.

“We’re not going to sweep these problems under the rug,” Zelanko said. “We want to deal with this issue as quickly and efficiently as we can.”

Cecere said the district randomly screens students several times each month through a urine-sample test.

After seeing the results, Cecere said the number of random screenings will now increase.

“We want our students to know that we’re serious about this,” Cecere said.

Remembering Adam rewards students for being drug-free by providing incentives such as certificates and T-shirts.

However, the program does not punish students who choose to not be drug free, Cecere said.

“This is a non-punitive program,” Cecere said. “We reward students for being drug-free, but we don’t punish students for not choosing that lifestyle.”

Under the program guidelines, if a student fails a screening, school districts must inform parents of the results and work with the student to change that student’s habits.

Cecere said the district will also increase its efforts to educate students of the harmful effects of illegal substances.

The survey showed that many students have considered experimenting with alcohol and other substances.

Under school and state policies, Cecere said, the school is required to educate its students on the effects of illegal substances.

“If we continue to educate our students, we’re hoping that it will discourage students from experimenting with drugs or alcohol,” Cecere said.

Zelanko said the district will do “everything in its power” to minimize the number of students using, or thinking of using, illegal substances.

“We’ve been very pleased with the program,” Zelanko said. “We hope to one day have 100 percent involvement from the students.”

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