Students learn to say no to drugs.
By: Melissa Hayes
JAMESBURG Students at the John F. Kennedy school may have looked a bit odd wearing their clothes backward to school, but it was part of the school’s Red Ribbon Week celebration.
As part of Turn Your Back on Drugs Day students were encouraged to come to school with their clothes on backward to symbolize walking away from drugs, said Wendy Sloater, school vice principal.
Red Ribbon Week is a national celebration of drug-free communities traditionally celebrated during the last week of October to commemorate the death of DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena, who was killed during a drug trafficking investigation in 1985.
This year’s theme was Building a Safe and Healthy Community Together.
The Jamesburg School District celebrated Red Ribbon Week a week early this year so that it could celebrate Schools Violence Awareness Week in October as well.
During Red Ribbon Week, Oct. 18 through 22, students at JFK wore red and "paraded around the block for good health," Ms. Sloater said.
Students also celebrated the week with Reach for the Stars, Not Drugs Day, and Say Three Polite Things Day.
For Schools Violence Awareness Week, a requirement mandated by the state Department of Education, Ms. Sloater met with each of the homeroom classes in Grace M. Breckwedel middle school and discussed bullying and how to get out of tough situations.
"I gave them examples of things to do so they wouldn’t be confronted by a bully," she said.
In the John F. Kennedy school, the theme was Joining Hands for a Safer Community. Students were asked to trace their hands, cut out the tracing and write positive words such as "be kind" on them.
JFK School Principal Albert Perno is hanging up the hands around the school over the next few days, Ms. Sloater said.
Superintendent Shirley Bzdewka also organized a parents night to speak about bullying.
This is the first year the school has participated in Schools Violence Awareness Week.
"I think it’s working out really well," Ms. Sloater said.