A few parents in North Carroll have decided it's time they went to school on the issue of drugs. Enrollment is open to all.
The surge in parent interest has prompted them to sponsor a community forum on juvenile drug and alcohol use at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the North Carroll High School auditorium.
Speakers will include representatives from public schools, police, the Carroll state's attorney's office and others.
Parent organizers Thomas and Laura Newkirk and Michael Tarlton are hoping to draw several hundred people.
With a ninth-grader at North Carroll High, Mr. Newkirk said he has learned that drug and alcohol use by students is much more common than he had thought. Statistics Mr. Newkirk heard from former Principal Gregory Eckles last fall surprised him.
"I said, 'You're saying more students have tried drugs than not?' He said yes. That's the thing that got my attention," Mr. Newkirk said.
The Maryland Adolescent Survey, done by the state Department of Education, reports student responses to several questions on drugs and alcohol. It asks what they know, not just what they do.
New data will be out in May, but the latest figures from 1992 indicated an increase in drug use in Carroll. Also, usage in Carroll County was higher than the state average for most substances, especially tobacco, alcohol and marijuana, but also for LSD.
"People think they're moving here to get away from that," Mr. Newkirk said. "What they don't realize is they're bringing their kids with them."
The scary thing, educators said, is that students say through the survey that they know the dangers of drugs, but they still use them.
"They know a lot, but it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with what they do with that knowledge," said Joanne Hayes, substance abuse coordinator for Carroll County Schools.
To the question of whether they had ever ridden in a car in which the driver was intoxicated, 45.6 percent of the students in Carroll said yes.
"That went up by 15 percent," Ms. Hayes said.
That rate, and especially the increase, indicates that even the media blitz about drinking and driving isn't enough to change student behavior, she said.
"The schools cannot do it alone," she said. "That's why I'm glad parents are taking the lead. That's wonderful."
A similar response occurred in the Liberty High School community in 1992, when the principal there, Robert Bastress, urged parents to learn more about drug use and work with the school. Parents sponsored a forum, and hundreds showed up.
Ms. Hayes said no school in Carroll has more of a problem than another; the dynamics that spark parent interest just happened to come together for Liberty and North Carroll. She hopes it will happen countywide.
No particular tragedy or drug arrest sparked the North Carroll parents. Dr. Eckles said the topic was on his mind because of a few incidents early in the school year, but they weren't unusual. One student was caught buying pills from another. In another case, administrators suspected a student of having drugs in a car, and they called police to bring drug-sniffing dogs.
Dr. Eckles put the issue on the agenda of the parent advisory council last fall, and the Newkirks and Mr. Tarlton formed a subcommittee to look into substance abuse. They had one meeting so far, last month, with newly elected Carroll State's Attorney Jerry Barnes.
Dr. Eckles, since promoted to director of curriculum, said he worries about national reports of increased use of inhalants, which often are household or office items such as typewriter correction fluid, aerosol products and other things that aren't illegal.
Parents need to talk to each other and to their children, Ms. Hayes said. And they need to ask themselves some questions, she said.
"Do I know where they are? Do I know who they're with? Do I wait up for them? Do I say something if I see someone lingering outside the liquor store waiting for someone to buy liquor for them? I think it's also keeping an ear open and talking to parents of friends," Ms. Hayes said.
"It's one of those 'trust-but-verify' situations," she said.
Sunshine Genco, 17, a senior at North Carroll High, co-chairs the substance abuse committee of the Carroll County Student Government.
"I think it's really good," she said of the parent interest, "because a lot of parents are naive about what's going on. I know I am. I go to school, and you hear new things every day."
Students, Sunshine included, are not likely to turn each other in, she said. If parents are aware, it will take some of the policing pressure off students, she said.
"I, myself, would never turn anyone in," she said. "First of all, it's peer pressure -- I wouldn't want to get any of my friends in trouble. I don't want to hurt anyone, and I don't want someone to get mad at me for speaking up.
"I know I can talk to my mom and dad about it, as much as I want," she said.
And she is not one of the 45.6 percent who have ridden with an intoxicated driver, she said.
"Never," she said. "My mom told me I could always call her if I get stranded."