1998-06-18City of Southlake, Texas
MINUTES
Drug and Alcohol Awareness Committee
Thursday, June 18,1998
Meeting Minutes
Members Present: Jacky Brooks -Lawrence, Erin Anderson, Vic Awtry, Doug
Strickland, Deborah Edmondson, and Bret Boren
Members Absent: Justin Willingham, Wayne Moffat, Joe Monfort, Courtney Smiter,
Roxanne Matela-Berenbeim.
Ex-Officio Members Absent: Nancy Moffat, Brad Bradley
Staff Present: Shelli Seimer, Gary Gregg, Elizabeth Rowland, Betty Sullivan
and Sean Leonard
Guests Present: Brad Bartholomew, Margaret Melton, Steve Miller and Jeff Marler
Agenda Items
Agenda Item No. 1. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 6:07 p.m. by Jacky Brooks -Lawrence.
Agenda Item No. 2. Roll Call
Jacky Brooks -Lawrence called the roll of membership present.
Agenda Item No. 3. Report: Results of School Survey and Parent Survey
Parent Survey:
Shelli Seimer presented the results of the Parent Survey (please see attached report).
Debra Edmondson questioned who developed the survey. The Parent Survey was
developed to correspond with the student survey conducted earlier in the year by the
school district. The survey was written by Elizabeth Rowland and approved by the Drug
& Alcohol Awareness Committee.
From the survey results, Shelli highlighted that 2,200 parents were surveyed. Of this total
surveyed, there were 901 surveys returned representing a 41 % response rate. Shelli
stressed the importance that this survey was an attitudinal survey and the results do not
attempt to draw normative conclusions regarding the responses.
Drug & Alcohol Awareness Committee
Minutes- June 18, 1998
The committee members discussed some aspects of the results from the parent survey.
The majority of the respondents were highly concerned about their children's risk of
exposure to and use of alcohol and/or drugs. There was a discussion about the majority
(81%) of the adults responding to the survey were the mothers of their child(ren). The
committee reported that this will help to know who to target when educating parents.
Doug Strickland made the observation that the 5th, 7th, and 9th grades had the largest
number of responses. The significance of this amount was that each of those grades were
the starting grades for middle, junior high and high school.
Student Survey
Dr. Elizabeth Rowland presented the results of the Student Survey (Please see attached
reports). Before she started, Doug Strickland apologized to the committee for the results
of the student survey being published in the local newspapers prior to the results being
made available to the committee. He said this was a result of an open records request that
forced the school district to release the information to the news media earlier than
expected.
Dr. Rowland then detailed her report from the Student Surveys developed by the Rocky
Mountain Behavioral Science Institute, Inc. of Fort Collins Colorado. The survey was
designed to last twenty minutes to complete, and was taken at school. The anonymous
survey was picked up by students and sealed in an envelope before given to a teacher.
The reliability and validity of this study is high. The study was designed in such a fashion
that if a child exaggerated or if there were inconsistencies with the answers, the
individual survey responses were thrown out. The survey has been used and tested for
fifteen years with over 8,000 students being surveyed nationally. Of the total number of
students surveyed (95% of all students between 5`h and 12' grades) there was less than
two percent of the responses dismissed due to inconsistencies.
Dr. Rowland then went on to detail each of the grades surveyed, highlighting areas of
interest and comparing them to the national standards. Doug mentioned he was interested
in the national statistics for marijuana. Elizabeth stated that she would provide those at
the next meeting. Overall she stated that the youth of this community "are telling us that
it is very easy to get alcohol and drugs." The predominate usage is occurring outside of
school and typically at parties and/or with friends who use. Elizabeth mentioned that
high risk/use kids are less likely to be involved in school extracurricular activities, more
likely to be encouraged to use by their peers, and less likely to be discouraged by their
parents or family. Elizabeth then highlighted the possible intervention strategies and they
are as follows: 1) Let children know you care, 2) Help kids stay involved and support
them in their school involvement, 3) Strict enforcement of local laws related to the sale
and use of drugs, 4) Utilize the concerned parents within the community, and 5) We need
to do all we can do to reduce alcohol and drug usage among our youth.
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Drug & Alcohol Awareness Committee
Minutes- June 18, 1998
Agenda Item No. 4. Sub -Committees Separate Into Groups.
Due to the amount of time spent on the survey results, the sub -committees did not meet
individually.
Jacky reminded everyone of the committee's mission. Brad Bartholomew distributed the
second version of recommendations, which he and Jacky consolidated from the original
list of recommendations. Jacky complimented Brad Bartholomew for his hard work and
dedication and stated that, "even though he is not an official member of the committee he
has worked very hard to better this committee and the City of Southlake." Brad asked
the committee members to review this list before the next meeting.
Shelli then presented a system to the help the committee members rank the
recommendations in priority order. This system provides an objective approach to obtain
an overall ranking of the committee's priorities by combining each member's individual
rankings. Once the committee decides on their recommendations, this tool can be
administered.
Agenda Item No. 5. Meeting Adjourned
Jacky motioned to adjourn the meeting at 8:03PM. The motion was approved
unanimously.
Submitted
Secretary
a:court\a&ac\jun 18min.doc
Approved
� IVA,r I/
Jacky Brooks -Lawrence, Chairperson
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