Hollister
– San Benito High School District freshmen appear to be engaging
in more risky behaviors such as drinking or drug use than in years
past. But juniors are more likely to avoid those same activities,
according to the most recent results from the California Healthy
Kids Survey.
Hollister – San Benito High School District freshmen appear to be engaging in more risky behaviors such as drinking or drug use than in years past. But juniors are more likely to avoid those same activities, according to the most recent results from the California Healthy Kids Survey.
“This shows what we’ve known for a while,” said SBHS Superintendent Jean Burns Slater. “It’s imperative that our freshmen receive more support at school.”
The Healthy Kids Survey is a questionnaire administered to fifth, seventh, ninth and eleventh graders every two years. It is designed to cull information about the health and habits of students. The survey is comprised of several parts, many of which are optional – SBHS chose to participate in sections regarding drug use, alcohol, bullying, and a student’s sense of “connection” to his or her school and community.
Seventy-eight percent of all freshmen in 2005 chose to participate in the survey, as well as 66 percent of all juniors. At San Andreas High School, 66 students participated from all grade levels, about 37 percent of the student body. In 2003, only 39 percent of freshmen and 26 percent of juniors chose to participate, most likely because class time was not set aside for the survey, as was the case last year.
Thirty-one percent of freshmen reported that they had at least one full drink within the last 30 days of taking the survey, and 17 percent reported they had five or more drinks in a “couple of hours” during that same time period – up four percentage points from 2003. Among juniors, 31 percent admitted to having at least one drink over the course of that same month, and 22 percent, down from 28 percent in 2003, had had five or more in one sitting – the behavior that defines “binge drinking.”
“When a student reports taking one drink, that could be a glass of champagne at a wedding or something like that,” said Slater. “But when we look at binge drinking, that’s where I am very concerned.”
Sixteen percent of both freshman and juniors reported using marijuana within the 30-day period before the survey, whereas 12 percent of freshmen and 21 percent of juniors reported doing the same in 2003.
However, 85 percent of freshmen reported that they felt daily marijuana use was harmful and 86 percent felt the same way about alcohol, down from 93 and 90 percent, respectively. Ninety percent of juniors believed daily marijuana or alcohol use was dangerous.
“There’s clearly a disconnect here,” said SBHS Principal Debbie Padilla. “They know these things are bad for them, but they won’t act on that. It’s our job to look at why and see what we can do to give them the tools to avoid those situations.”
Eighteen percent of freshmen said they had carried a gun, knife or club to school within the past year, and 27 percent said they had been in a physical fight at school. Another 11 percent considered themselves gang members, while the numbers for juniors responding to the same questions were 8, 15 and seven percent, respectively.
“What you see is that freshmen are getting out there and experimenting, and junior students are starting to figure it out, they’re more mature,” said Slater.
The survey also looks at factors available to students to protect them from risky behavior. Twenty-six percent of freshmen reported that they had a caring relationship with an adult figure at school, such as a teacher, while 36 percent of juniors felt that way. When asked if adults at school have high expectations of students, 37 percent of freshmen answered positively, compared to 43 percent of juniors.
Educators use the results to determine what the district can do to encourage students to make healthy choices – both at school and in their free time. For example, teachers may take workshops that address issues such as diversity or harassment, or the district may develop policy items regarding risky behavior for the board of trustees to approve.
Hollister School District students take a similar survey, but those results have yet to come in.
Danielle Smith covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or
ds****@fr***********.com
