Lakeland Area Community Meetings

We had a big group of people for the meeting.  We started with everyone introducing themselves.  Bob then introduced Todd Kleinhans, the LUHS principal and new superintendent.  Bob distributed Issue Brief Number 1: Underage Drinking (see attached).  He put it together based on a model from a coalition out of Eau Claire.  The brief was on the statistics of the use of alcohol in our area compared to state and national averages. Bob went on to talk about how the coalition in Eau Claire did a series of briefs on different topics.  We’ll follow the same outline: The first brief was facts, the second will be costs associated with Underage Drinking (UAD) and the third will be solutions to the issue.   Bob had sent the brief out to his email list before the meeting and received an email from Judge Neilsen who thought that it was great!  Mike Zimmerman commented that the youth center, through their choices groups, has also gathered quite a bit of good data on UAD by students as well.  Bob replied that he was not aware that the youth center had that data and suggested that there are probably other sources of data out there that we don’t know about and we all should get together and share the information to get it out.  A member of the group shared that a recent grant was awarded to help address this issue in the community.  If we all work together we can leverage dollars from various programs and agencies to influence the spending on prevention.  The data will be taken to county boards, Tribal Council, school boards and others in positions of leadership across our community in the hope of influencing policies that will help in the fight against underage drinking.  Someone brought up the idea that much of our economy in this area is based on tourism and that in turn contributes to an economy heavily supported by alcohol sales.  Another member brought up the idea that studies have shown that students get desensitized to the dangers of alcohol by seeing alcohol and alcohol advertising.  Bob related a story from a Nebraska town coalition that went after alcohol advertising and actually had a positive impact on reducing the amount of alcohol advertising in their community-and UAD use.  One of the members reminded the group that we need to remember that alcoholism is a disease.  We also need to educate people on the brain research that has been done with regards to the pre-disposition to alcoholism. 
 
One of the members thanked Todd for attending because if showed that he is interested in the larger sense of the education of students.  Todd thanked the member and talked about how LUHS is addressing the issue of underage drinking.  He reiterated that what he had been hearing at the meeting were concerns he and the staff at LUHS are also concerned about.  He gave an example of how LUHS and The Family Resource Center recently had a meeting on how the could better coordinate services to help students and families in need and to work for the common good of the community.  One of the members suggested that one of the issues with underage drinking is that the parents need to be more involved with their children.  Todd responded saying that LUHS has had difficulty getting parent involvement at the high school level.  Other members agreed that parent involvement is difficult to get-but a critical component.
 
A member suggested that there are often groups that get together to find solutions to youth issues, but we don’t involve the youth very well-partly because it is so difficult to get them to meetings.  Would there be a way through LUHS to get students to these meetings, coalitions, groups so youth say in these issues?  Todd responded that there might be a way but it would take someone in the building to coordinate the students and their involvement with a number of groups within the community.  A member told a story of her son and another student who sat with judges in Eau Claire County and talked about the issues facing students and then came up with ideas on how to address them.  The judges were so impressed with their ideas that they connected the students with the county board and some of their suggestions became town ordinances.  A member suggested that if the students were given this opportunity that they would “step up to the plate” and do a great job.  Bob suggested that this group could give LUHS ideas on how they could get students “plugged in” to opportunities in the community. We discussed allowing students classroom credit for participation in “real world” activities like grassroots organizing, decision-making, advocacy and community leadership. Todd sounded very excited about these ideas-so we’ll be working on those strategies with the school.

A member started to talk about the positive things that the Journey program has done at the high school.  A number of people responded that it was a very good program and had done great things for students they knew that were involved in the class.  Todd responded to a member who asked if the class was available to all students that Journey had 6 sections this year and they are looking at the possibility of expanding the class.  The conversation moved toward the idea of presenting positive alternatives to alcohol use and risk taking behavior.  A member stressed that all students were not the same and that we needed a variety of alternatives (drama, art, physical activities, etc.) to meet the variety of learning styles that our diverse youth possess.

A member suggested that students needed to have positive parent and adult role models.  Another member suggested that students needed to develop internal controls.  Another member suggested that students needed a better understanding of their true identities.  A conversation began on the importance of self and cultural identity, and how the respecting of that or not respecting it has a huge impact on how the students feel about themselves.  A member suggested that students needed to be verbally valued and not to assume that they know that they are valued.  They also suggested that students nationally are not feeling valued or needed.

Todd reiterated that the issues that were talked out tonight are issues that are also a great concern to him and LUHS. There are some great opportunities waiting for us to capitalize on and Todd’s willingness to explore new avenues and ideas will greatly enhance these efforts in the near future.  He expressed an interest in coming to future meetings as well which was really nice to hear! Bob wrapped up the meeting and thanked everyone for coming. 

Next Community Meeting: Next Meeting will be held concurrently with the “Town Hall Meeting on Underage Drinking” at the LdF Wellness Center on Tuesday April 1 at 5:30pm.