Facts About Teen Alcohol Use
Connections: June 2005 -- IN THE LAST TWO MONTHS PARENTS AND TEACHERS HAVE been discussing the use of alcohol by adolescents and how we can make Hackley a safer school, assuring that such use is the exception rather than the norm. Our starting point for that conversation must be facts about teenage alcohol use.
Connections: June 2005 -- IN THE LAST TWO MONTHS PARENTS AND TEACHERS HAVE been discussing the use of alcohol by adolescents and how we can make Hackley a safer school, assuring that such use is the exception rather than the norm. Our starting point for that conversation must be facts about teenage alcohol use. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa59.htm) reports that:
• “Underage alcohol use is more likely to kill young people than all illegal drugs combined.”
• “The rate of fatal crashes among alcohol-involved drivers between 16 and 20 years old is more than twice the rate for alcohol-involved drivers 21 and older.”
• “Alcohol use by the offender, the victim, or both, increases the likelihood of sexual assault.”
• “Research has associated adolescent alcohol use with high risk sex.”
• “Exposing the brain to alcohol during this period [adolescence] may interrupt key processes of brain development, possibly leading to mild cognitive impairment as well as further escalation of drinking.... the hippocampus – a part of the brain important for learning and memory – was...in...adolescents who began drinking at an earlier age... proportionately smaller...compared with those who began later.”
• “People who began drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence at some time in their lives compared with those who have their first drink at age 20 or older.”
• “Easier access to alcohol in the home, family acceptance of drinking, and lack of parental monitoring” are associated with adolescent alcohol abuse.
• “The most reliable predictor of a youth’s drinking behavior is the drinking behavior of his or her friends.”
All of us, parents and teachers, want to keep our children safe, and we all recognize, I believe, alcohol’s dangers for adolescents. However, we may disagree on how best to assure our children’s safety. Some parents and teachers believe that adolescent alcohol use is inevitable, and that therefore safety can best be assured by providing a supervised environment in which adolescents can use alcohol, and learn to use it maturely and in moderation. Whatever the arguments for such a theory may be, they remain secondary to the fact that it is against the law to provide alcohol to other people’s children, and it is also contrary to Hackley School’s policies, which all parents accepted and agreed to abide by when they enrolled their children at Hackley, and which teachers agreed to abide by when they accepted employment at Hackley.
Hackley’s Student Handbooks, incorporated by reference within our enrollment contract and available on our web site at www.hackleyschool.org note:
“The use or possession of alcoholic beverages in the buildings of the School, on School grounds, on school buses, at School related events, or on School-related trips is prohibited.”
and,
“Although Hackley School is not responsible for supervising students when they are at home, the School expects parents to provide supervision consistent with the School’s rules on alcohol. Though a parent or guardian may serve alcohol at home to his or her own child under age 21, it is illegal under Penal Law Section 260.20 to furnish alcohol to other children under 21 years of age. Further, under General Obligation Law Section 11-100, any person who is injured by a minor under the influence of alcohol, may sue whoever knowingly served that minor alcohol. Parents should supervise parties and gatherings accordingly. A parent’s or guardian’s failure to do so may result in a withholding of their child’s re-enrollment contract for the succeeding year, or dismissal of the child from Hackley School.”
As I have written before, the word “community” is often invoked as a rather generalized affirmation of togetherness, when in fact it is a continuing challenge. One such challenge is how we reconcile our individual perspectives with our collective decisions. As members of a voluntary community, we have a responsibility to voice principled objections, to engage in the process of reaching decisions on community values and policies, but once those decisions are reached, honor and humility require that we abide by those decisions even if we disagree, or, if our disagreement is fundamental, withdraw from the community. It is not an acceptable option to accept the benefits of membership in a community and undermine, intentionally or negligently, its covenants.
On Wednesday, May 11th, members of the HPA Executive Board and Committee for Responsible Choices met with members of the Upper School administrative team to discuss how parents and teachers can work together to make Hackley a safer school for our children with regard to alcohol and illegal drugs. Present for the HPA were President Mary Dell Berning, President-Elect Susan Knox, Executive Vice-President-Elect Marie Vandivort, Upper School Vice-President Elect Sandy Harbison, Treasurer Hope Eiseman, Secretary Diane Cavanaugh, Doriann Hersch, Lower School Vice President and Co-Chairs of the CRC Janice Israel and Penney Klingman. School representatives included Upper School Director Beverley Whitaker, Upper School Psychologist and Head of Support Services Dr. Linda Sadler, Assistant Upper School Director Peter Latson, Senior Dean Chris Arnold, Junior Dean Bill Davies, Sophomore Dean Melissa Abraham, Freshman Dean Joe Faltin, Sophomore Dean for 2005-06 Frank Greally, and me.
The presence of so many is testimony to the seriousness with which our community takes this issue, and our willingness to invest our time and energies to be more effective in addressing it. Three key themes emerged from these discussions:
1. Communication
2. Education
3. Coordination
We discussed goals and programs both in the near and longer term. For the remainder of this year, we will reinforce Hackley’s supervisory practices on trips, communicating more clearly to parents and students Hackley’s standards and expectations, while increasing our chaperone ratio. For overnight trips we will have discussions in advance with participating parents and students, and ask for written agreement from participants to assure that all are aware of Hackley’s rules and the values underlying them. In the longer term, we need to be more effective in communicating Hackley’s values and policies to all in our community, considering required parental meetings as well as signed agreements. Such meetings can help us with our own education on alcohol- and drug-related issues, as we also strengthen educational programs for our children. Finally, we recognized that the coordination of parent and teacher efforts will be essential to any success we may have in creating a safer school for our children. That coordination should also include our students themselves. In recent weeks I have been impressed and inspired anew by the intelligence and wisdom Upper School students bring to our collective discussions. They care deeply about taking care of their friends, and worry about their younger siblings. Research does show that such comprehensive efforts, joining families and school, can reduce or prevent alcohol use among adolescents. We need to work together and act together, for the sake of all our children.
Walter C. Johnson
Back
• “Underage alcohol use is more likely to kill young people than all illegal drugs combined.”
• “The rate of fatal crashes among alcohol-involved drivers between 16 and 20 years old is more than twice the rate for alcohol-involved drivers 21 and older.”
• “Alcohol use by the offender, the victim, or both, increases the likelihood of sexual assault.”
• “Research has associated adolescent alcohol use with high risk sex.”
• “Exposing the brain to alcohol during this period [adolescence] may interrupt key processes of brain development, possibly leading to mild cognitive impairment as well as further escalation of drinking.... the hippocampus – a part of the brain important for learning and memory – was...in...adolescents who began drinking at an earlier age... proportionately smaller...compared with those who began later.”
• “People who began drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence at some time in their lives compared with those who have their first drink at age 20 or older.”
• “Easier access to alcohol in the home, family acceptance of drinking, and lack of parental monitoring” are associated with adolescent alcohol abuse.
• “The most reliable predictor of a youth’s drinking behavior is the drinking behavior of his or her friends.”
All of us, parents and teachers, want to keep our children safe, and we all recognize, I believe, alcohol’s dangers for adolescents. However, we may disagree on how best to assure our children’s safety. Some parents and teachers believe that adolescent alcohol use is inevitable, and that therefore safety can best be assured by providing a supervised environment in which adolescents can use alcohol, and learn to use it maturely and in moderation. Whatever the arguments for such a theory may be, they remain secondary to the fact that it is against the law to provide alcohol to other people’s children, and it is also contrary to Hackley School’s policies, which all parents accepted and agreed to abide by when they enrolled their children at Hackley, and which teachers agreed to abide by when they accepted employment at Hackley.
Hackley’s Student Handbooks, incorporated by reference within our enrollment contract and available on our web site at www.hackleyschool.org note:
“The use or possession of alcoholic beverages in the buildings of the School, on School grounds, on school buses, at School related events, or on School-related trips is prohibited.”
and,
“Although Hackley School is not responsible for supervising students when they are at home, the School expects parents to provide supervision consistent with the School’s rules on alcohol. Though a parent or guardian may serve alcohol at home to his or her own child under age 21, it is illegal under Penal Law Section 260.20 to furnish alcohol to other children under 21 years of age. Further, under General Obligation Law Section 11-100, any person who is injured by a minor under the influence of alcohol, may sue whoever knowingly served that minor alcohol. Parents should supervise parties and gatherings accordingly. A parent’s or guardian’s failure to do so may result in a withholding of their child’s re-enrollment contract for the succeeding year, or dismissal of the child from Hackley School.”
As I have written before, the word “community” is often invoked as a rather generalized affirmation of togetherness, when in fact it is a continuing challenge. One such challenge is how we reconcile our individual perspectives with our collective decisions. As members of a voluntary community, we have a responsibility to voice principled objections, to engage in the process of reaching decisions on community values and policies, but once those decisions are reached, honor and humility require that we abide by those decisions even if we disagree, or, if our disagreement is fundamental, withdraw from the community. It is not an acceptable option to accept the benefits of membership in a community and undermine, intentionally or negligently, its covenants.
On Wednesday, May 11th, members of the HPA Executive Board and Committee for Responsible Choices met with members of the Upper School administrative team to discuss how parents and teachers can work together to make Hackley a safer school for our children with regard to alcohol and illegal drugs. Present for the HPA were President Mary Dell Berning, President-Elect Susan Knox, Executive Vice-President-Elect Marie Vandivort, Upper School Vice-President Elect Sandy Harbison, Treasurer Hope Eiseman, Secretary Diane Cavanaugh, Doriann Hersch, Lower School Vice President and Co-Chairs of the CRC Janice Israel and Penney Klingman. School representatives included Upper School Director Beverley Whitaker, Upper School Psychologist and Head of Support Services Dr. Linda Sadler, Assistant Upper School Director Peter Latson, Senior Dean Chris Arnold, Junior Dean Bill Davies, Sophomore Dean Melissa Abraham, Freshman Dean Joe Faltin, Sophomore Dean for 2005-06 Frank Greally, and me.
The presence of so many is testimony to the seriousness with which our community takes this issue, and our willingness to invest our time and energies to be more effective in addressing it. Three key themes emerged from these discussions:
1. Communication
2. Education
3. Coordination
We discussed goals and programs both in the near and longer term. For the remainder of this year, we will reinforce Hackley’s supervisory practices on trips, communicating more clearly to parents and students Hackley’s standards and expectations, while increasing our chaperone ratio. For overnight trips we will have discussions in advance with participating parents and students, and ask for written agreement from participants to assure that all are aware of Hackley’s rules and the values underlying them. In the longer term, we need to be more effective in communicating Hackley’s values and policies to all in our community, considering required parental meetings as well as signed agreements. Such meetings can help us with our own education on alcohol- and drug-related issues, as we also strengthen educational programs for our children. Finally, we recognized that the coordination of parent and teacher efforts will be essential to any success we may have in creating a safer school for our children. That coordination should also include our students themselves. In recent weeks I have been impressed and inspired anew by the intelligence and wisdom Upper School students bring to our collective discussions. They care deeply about taking care of their friends, and worry about their younger siblings. Research does show that such comprehensive efforts, joining families and school, can reduce or prevent alcohol use among adolescents. We need to work together and act together, for the sake of all our children.
Walter C. Johnson
Hackley School
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