SIMI VALLEY : Educators Feel Need for Drug Counselor

Faced with a choice between hiring another teacher or adding a drug counselor, parents and staff at Apollo Continuation High School in Simi Valley hardly hesitated, Principal Joseph D. Studer said.

They needed someone to help students hooked on tobacco, alcohol and other drugs, and to prevent additional students from becoming users.

“The parents and the total staff here felt that this was the most important need,” Studer said. “We really need some support and help here.”

The Simi Valley school board apparently agreed, voting unanimously Tuesday night in favor of creating the new specialist position.

Studer said he did not have accurate statistics on the use of alcohol or illegal drugs among students. But he said a recent survey showed that 63% of the school’s 448 students are tobacco users, which causes its own problems. Students desperate for a smoke sometimes leave school to light up, he said.

The specialist, Studer said, would counsel students, invite outside substance abuse experts to speak at assemblies, and train students to help each other overcome addition. The counselor would also coordinate student support groups using the 12 steps popularized by Alcoholics Anonymous. sStuder said he envisions the groups meeting before school, after school and during lunch.

Studer said he hoped the new specialist, whose salary has yet to be determined, would begin work as soon as possible.

There are 18 support groups meeting regularly at Ventura High School, where a “Student Assistance Program,” focusing on substance abuse education, has been operating for nine years, program coordinator Cheryl Meyers said.

Unlike Ventura High School, Apollo Continuation attracts students with behavior problems or those transferred from the district’s other two high schools, Simi High and Royal High.

Studer said the school’s goal was not to suspend students with drug problems, but to help them and their parents. “To me, the solution is not to kick them out of school,” he said. “Slam-bam suspending them just doesn’t work with our kind of kids, because they’ve already been through that.”