In Berkeley Students Show up Stoned to Class--No Problem

Written by CA Political News on March 08, 2009, 02:14 PM

Berkeley students use drugs and alcohol at twice state average

By Doug Oakley, Contra Costa Times, 3/6/09 


Marijuana and alcohol use among Berkeley school children is off the charts, according to a survey reviewed by the Berkeley school board Wednesday night.

Ninth and 11th graders reported being drunk or stoned on school property at twice the state and national numbers (30 percent for Berkeley ninth graders and 55 percent for 11th graders) and twice as many students reported smoking marijuana in the last 30 days compared to state and national students who took the same survey.

The California Healthy Kids Survey is given to kids in grades five, seven, nine and 11 and is administered every two years. Berkeley's survey was administered a year ago, but only brought to the school board Wednesday night. School officials say the data is most reliable in ninth and 11th graders due to response rates.

Berkeley's school board directed its superintendent, William Huyett to come up with a plan by the end of this year to improve the drug and alcohol situation.

Huyett, who has been on the job in Berkeley a little over a year, said he was surprised by the findings.

"Drug and alcohol use are off the charts," Huyett told the board. "We have a big problem of kids coming to school drunk and high. The rate is two and a half times the state numbers and folks, that is a very high number." Huyett said the numbers couldn't be so high without a culture of parental and teacher acceptance.

"Clearly in our city and our schools we have a drug problem and an acceptance problem," Huyett said. "But kids can't learn when they are high."

The study specifically found that about 45 percent of 11th graders at Berkeley High School and 30 percent of ninth graders said they smoked marijuana in the last 30 days. Over 50 percent of 11th graders and about 38 percent of ninth graders said they drank alcohol in the last 30 days.

In sharp contrast was the relatively low percentage of cigarette smoking. Just over 10 percent of 11th and ninth graders said they smoked a cigarette in the last 30 days.

Fifty percent of 11th graders at Berkeley High School and about 40 percent of ninth graders said they have been sick or very drunk from drinking at least once. Likewise, a little over 30 percent of 11th graders and 20 percent of ninth graders at Berkeley High said they drank more than five drinks in a couple of hours in the last 30 days.

School board member Shirley Issel said the school district has to come up with a program that both attempts to change the attitudes of parents about drug and alcohol use and at the same time identifies kids with a problem and refers them to programs to get help.

"We can't put the (blame) on our kids," Issel said. "There's a cultural agreement in Berkeley that drinking and smoking is OK. This is an adult problem. You just can't learn when you're stoned."

Issel also said some principals in Berkeley's school district are reluctant to have discussions about drug and alcohol use among students.

In addition to talking to parents, board members agreed that using student leaders to teach other students will help in the effort to bring the survey result numbers down.

Results from the California Healthy Kids Survey for all state districts can be viewed in detail at the nonprofit web site www.wested.org.