to get FRHSD students
back on path to success
Pilot program would offer
substance abuse counseling
Course would endeavor
to get FRHSD students
back on path to success
By dave benjamin
Staff Writer
ENGLISHTOWN — High school students who have been suspended from school for substance abuse violations may soon be able to get the help they need.
The Freehold Regional High School District will be offering a pilot program to enrich the academic experience of those students by offering them the necessary skills that are needed for classroom academic achievement. The pilot program will also address the students’ behavior and options for positive performance.
"Over the course of a year or so, I’ve been involved with some of the discipline hearings of students at the building level," said Superintendent of Schools James Wasser. "Many of these issues are drug- and alcohol-related. These are substance abuse issues."
Wasser said he had handled many of the issues, arranging student contracts, meeting with parents and doing some counseling before they reached the district’s Board of Education.
Wasser said while there are programs offered to students, "when we have programs for parents, we just don’t get the draw."
The pilot program now being considered will not only involve the student who needs the attention right away, but will involve parents, guardians or caretakers so that a better understanding of adolescent emotional and cognitive growth will be fostered between home and school, according to FRHSD administrators.
"Basically, this is a proposal that [Carolyn Hadge, a consultant to the board] put together for our district, to work with the parents as well as the students," said Doreen Mullarney, substance awareness coordinator.
The program will be for students who have violated the district’s substance abuse policy, Mullarney said.
"They do not necessarily have to be addicted," she said. "If they’ve violated the policy, they’ve entered into the realm of possible addiction. What we’re trying to do is to get them before they cross over that line where they are addicted to the chemicals."
Mullarney said if there is a need to go outside of what the pilot program is offering, additional help will be recommended.
The pilot program will be offered on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon. Each student in the program will attend all four sessions and there will be one-and-a-half Saturday morning sessions for parents or guardians.
The first program will involve a student assessment. Information from relevant school staff will be collected, including the student’s report cards and discipline reports.
The parent-guardian program will be facilitated by the family specialist and will take place on the second and fourth Saturdays of the program. A special schedule is set up for each of those days.
At the closing program, the coordinator will meet with each student and complete the assessment, including the behavior and accomplishments achieved. Results of the assessment will be reviewed with the student, the parent/ guardian and with the student assessment counselors.
Staff for the pilot program will include a program coordinator, family specialist, tutors and interns who will be supervised by the program coordinator and a Monmouth University associate professor.
In discussing the program at a recent board meeting, Hadge said the cost would be $350 for each student to attend four Saturday sessions.
Support is being sought from municipal alliances and parent organizations at the schools.
Board member Bonnie Rosenwald of Marlboro asked how the alliances would respond considering there are five alliances and eight sending FRHSD municipalities.
Responding to Rosenwald, Hadge said the cost per child is $350 and the directors of an alliance will be asked how many children they would be able to support.
"Some alliances may be able to support five children," Hadge said. "They would contribute that amount of money."
Mullarney said the program will aim to ensure that each child gets the support he or she needs so that when they go back to the classroom they will have a better feeling being there.
Board member Bernice Hammer of Freehold Borough suggested approaching the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders for their support.
Board member Marlene Caruso of Freehold Township suggested contacting local service clubs and asking for support.
Board member Ronald G. Lawson of Howell asked whether it will be possible to get parents involved.
"Perhaps we can make this program an alternative to the five-day suspension," he said.
Board member Terry Kraft of Howell said, "One of the concerns that we, as a board, have had over the [past] year or two is how do we become vital to these kids, because we all know that the drug and alcohol problems that are existing now are as bad as they were 10 or 15 years ago when we thought we were just at the end of fixing it. Now it’s back and it’s worse. The people who are trying to sell these things to our kids are doing as good a job as we are trying to defeat them. It’s a never-ending battle."
"This is one program that I would like to see take off in September," said Wasser, who noted that pending the allocation of a grant from the "No Child Left Behind" legislation, the pilot program will be instituted.