Study Tracks Substance Abuse Among Brookfield Teens

Brookfield Substance Abuse Coalition (BSAC) member Ron Jaffe told the Board of Education (BOE) that the town has many assets to address drug and alcohol abuse, and although the statistics from a recent survey are similar to state and national behaviors,” Brookfield does “have issues that need to be addressed.”

Jaffe, who served on the school board for more than seven years and is now a member of the Board of Finance (BOF), said that according to a recent survey conducted by the BSAC, the town “scores higher on assets than nationwide averages, sometimes significantly.”

The assets, which were listed on a handout that was distributed to the school board members, range from family support to play and creative activities to positive peer relationships.

School board Chairman Ray DiStpehan said the school district already has a curriculum that addresses many of the assets that were outlined in a handout that was distributed by Jaffe.

“I think we can incorporate the others into the curriculum,” he said.

Jaffe said the survey, which was taken last fall of students in eighth grade at Whisconier Middle School (WMS) and in ninth through 12th grade at Brookfield High School (BHS), indicated that the “results on behaviors generally improved, but that could be a result of change in the timing of the survey, which was done last fall.”

He said during Wednesday night’s meeting that an earlier survey was completed two years ago during the spring.

Jaffe said the BSAC plans to continue to conduct the survey every two years during the fall.

DiStephan said he was particularly concerned about statistics that showed that 15 percent of the 12th grade students had driven after drinking within the last 12 months and 26 percent indicated that during that same time span they had been in a car with a driver who had been drinking.

‘It’s terrifying,” he said. “Car accidents are the number one killer of young people.”

“When you see those kind of numbers, it’s not a matter of ‘if,’ it’s a matter of ‘when,’” said DiStephan, who is a social worker for the Katonah-Lewisboro schools in New York state.

Charles Manos, the school district’s Special Education director, said in recent years more parents have become uncertain about what to do when confronted by their children about the use of dangerous substances.

He said some parents succumb to pressure from their children to serve alcohol at a party as long as they take the keys to each of the vehicles.

“I think parents think if you have them under your supervision, nothing will happen,” DiStephan said in an interview after the meeting.

“I understand the sentiment,” he added. “But there are other children at that party who are not under their parents’ supervision. I say that with a great empathy for parents.”

Jaffe said that the survey indicated that the “onset of at-risk behaviors is earlier than most of us realize.”

“That’s been the trend for years,” DiStephan said. “I think that tells us as a school district that we have to do more at earlier ages.”

Jaffe said that a community can usually reduce at-risk behaviors by focusing on or increasing the developmental assets.

Superintendent Anthony Bivona said the school board has been supportive in these areas, noting that, among other things, it added a guidance counselor for the current fiscal year at WMS. That position had been vacant for some time.

“Brookfield is a very family-supportive community,” said DiStephan, who moved to the town about six years ago.

Jaffe said that, among other things, the town should “expand coordinated staff and community education efforts and work to create a coordinated town-school work programs and long-term plans.

Additional information on the survey and the BSAC’s activities is available at the Coalition’s website.