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City, schools join forces against teen drinking

by Pam Sturner

Putting aside last spring's quarrels, the City-School Liaison Committee united Tuesday in concern over teen substance abuse in Palo Alto, vowing a broad-based assault on what has become a serious community problem.

The committee -- composed of City Council members Judy Kleinberg, Nancy Lytle, Jim Burch and Hillary Freeman, and Gail Price and John Barton from the school board -- showed no signs of the tensions that led the school district to pull out last spring, when disputes over school land use came to a head.

Instead, members set the stage for a collaborative effort aimed at both prevention and cure and involving the city, its schools, Adolescent Counseling Services, the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, the PTA Council, the Palo Alto Foundation for Education and Stanford University.

While the district has taken steps to fight the problem, Palo Alto Unified School District Superintendent Mary Frances Callan stressed that its efforts represent only a portion of what needs to be done.

Among the most pressing needs is to stanch the supply of drugs and alcohol to teens, a problem that will take the city's cooperation to solve, Callan said. She and Barton asked for help from police and the community in identifying merchants who sell alcohol to students and cracking down on fake ID makers and adults who agree to make buys for teens.

However, to succeed, that effort will require an even more ambitious campaign to change public perception about substance abuse, Callan told committee members.

One of the first hurdles to overcome is some parents' idea that drinking is acceptable for kids. Callan described resistance she has met from parents who let their children have drinking parties at home, believing such activity to be part of growing up, or even an appropriate way to relieve stress.

"There's a belief that kids will be kids. There are parents who have said, 'I don't know why you're so concerned,'" she said. Pointing out how far beyond school boundaries the issues go, she added, "This is not something the schools can deal with alone."

The council members expressed sympathy for Callan's predicament, stressing the roots of the problem in American culture at large.

"What kids experience, no matter where they look, is no rules, no laws, no nothing," said Councilman Jim Burch, bemoaning the influence of advertising in fueling materialism.

Deborah Kurland, a Palo Alto parent whose son Max spoke to the Weekly for an Oct. 9 cover story about teen drinking, urged the committee to push for a comprehensive prevention and parent-education program, starting in elementary school.

In addition to providing "clean and sober" activities, such as dances and intramural sports, where children can have fun without worrying about performance, Kurland said police need to cite parents who allow underage drinking at home.

"If nothing else, (allowing teen drinking) is illegal," she said. "The legal consequences are severe, and parents aren't aware."

Kurland also said the community needs to acknowledge the problem, which often provokes reactions of shame.

Explaining that her family shared Max's story to help lift the stigma against teen alcohol abuse, Kurland said she has heard from many parents who don't know where to turn with a teenager's drinking problem and who are "ashamed that their family doesn't look perfect."

"We're incredibly grateful that Max is alive to tell his story. We're not ashamed of our son, nor of what we went through as a family ... We want to fight the stigma," she said, adding, "Palo Alto is the kind of community that can be a model" in this.

The discussion also turned on how to deal with stress felt by today's students. As committee members bemoaned the cultural pressure to attend top schools, make money and maintain a luxurious lifestyle, Kleinberg urged her colleagues to lobby for change in the college-admissions process.

Colleges need to value intangibles more and de-emphasize scores and grade-point average, she argued, before kids will get relief -- and the kind of preparation they need to live in today's world.

Ticking off a list of stressors unique to this generation -- including AIDS, the recession, and the looming threat of war -- Kleinberg noted that today's teens face enormous uncertainty in all aspects of their lives.

"Even if your parents are CEOs, they may be laid off now. The avenues to success and happiness are no longer guaranteed. The brass ring is totally different, and (young people) are afraid," she said.

Kleinberg warned that the community has to remain committed in the long haul in the fight against teen substance abuse. She reminded listeners of another time the city faced the same issue in the 1980s. It undertook a collaborative effort similar to the one now under consideration, called Palo Alto SAFE, that worked well -- until the state withdrew funding and moved on to new problems.

With that example, she urged a long-term approach that will continue even when the issue ceases to be fashionable among legislators.

Callan outlined steps the district has taken against teen substance abuse since last year. Palo Alto High School Principal Sandra Pearson has begun re-examining policies on attendance, homework and testing.

In addition, Palo Alto police have trained teachers to look for signs of inebriation. These sessions had at least one immediate pay off: In one case, a teacher discovered an inebriated student within two hours of receiving the training.

The only conclusion out of the meeting -- the committee's first since last spring -- was to pursue the interrelated problems associated with teen substance abuse in the coming year. No meeting date was set, given that the committee membership may change after the first of the year.

E-mail Pam Sturner at psturner@paweekly.com