By EMMITT HARRIS
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LATHAM – Two programs to help reduce bullying and prevent substance abuse are planned to begin this fall in the North Colonie Central School District.
Both will be aimed at grade-schoolers and middle-schoolers.
“It’s much harder to deal with these things when they’re in the process of using,” said Tricia Doyle, the district Director for Pupil Services, in a recent interview.
The programs will be developed with funding provided by two grants, one for almost $16,000 and the other for $11,000, awarded by Albany County in January.
One grant will go toward a program titled “Be Smart Don’t Start” to teach students in kindergarten through fifth grade about the dangers of drug usage. Dave Stadtlander, the Supervisor of Health and Physical Education, credited Jen Morgan, an elementary health education teacher, with applying for the grant.
The school district had been partnered with D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) for a handful of years but has since parted ways with the program. Since then, school counselors have been picking up where D.A.R.E. left off, leaving elementary school students without any type of health program. Stadtlander said Morgan realized the grant was an opportunity to get back into the swing of things.
“Vaping in particular has been, I don’t know, an epidemic,” Stadtlander said. “And It’s been prolific at every school, it’s not just a North Colonie issue.”
Data provided by US News.com from 2023 shows more than 15% of eighth-graders have used alcohol, and more than 8 % smoked weed. According to stopbullying.gov, more than 26% of middle schoolers experience bullying, compared to about 15 % of high schoolers.
“They’re very impressionable, the younger they are, so we’re trying to make a positive impression on them and educate them with skill-based work early on,” Stadtlander said.
Doyle, the Pupil Services director, applied for the anti-bullying grant, which will be used for an anti-violence program for students in kindergarten through 8th grade. Doyle emphasized the importance of targeting a younger demographic.
“By the time they get to middle school, they’re already sort of either engaging or falling victim to bullying,” Doyle said. “We’re really trying to start enhancing their skills so that they get there.”
