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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMeth Advisory Committee 02-13-06 St. Croix County Meth Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes, January 9, 2006 Chairman Esther Wentz called the meeting to order at 3: 02 p.m. Esther Wentz — verbal roll call Members Present: Esther Wentz, Doreen Rivard, Denise Gunderson, Tom Caflisch, Linda Robertson, Katie Deatherage, Dennis Hillstead, Steve Kirt Absent: Eric Johnson, Tom Hennes and Barb Nelson Adoption of Agenda — Tom C made a motion to approve the agenda and Denise made a second motion. Motion carried. Approval of December 12 meeting minutes — Tom C made a motion to approve the minutes as written and Steve made a second motion. Motion carried. Next Meeting: Monday, February 13 @ 3pm in Room 1281, St. Croix County Government Center UNFINISHED BUSINESS Brochure Update: Katie said the brochure is ready to print. Once it is funded she will send the brochure to the printer. The advisory committee needs to decide where to distribute the brochures. NEW BUSINESS The school districts in St. Croix County were invited to attend today's meeting to discuss how both the advisory committee and the school districts can work together to develop an age - specific curriculum on Meth. The guests that attended were Brad Nemec from Somerset School District, Bill Stuessel from St. Croix Central School District, Jamie Swiontek from the River Falls School District, Patti Phillips from the Baldwin - Woodville School District, Bridget Anderson from the New Richmond School District, Dana Krahenbuhl from the Hudson School District, Cindy Clement from River Falls who is interested in starting a Meth support group and Rick Coltrain, Chief of Police from Hammond Police Department. Esther began by explaining the intent of the meeting, which is to work together with the school districts to educate our youth about the effects of Meth. We want the schools input about what they are doing, what they need and how we can help. Jamie (River Falls) passed around the power point presentation she developed on Meth. She gave this information to 7 th grade students in River Falls over a two -day period. She said that adolescents think they can kick any habit so she focused on why the drug was addicting. It was a very comprehensive presentation. Esther asked what the other school districts were doing. Patti (Baldwin) said Tim Schultz would speak on March O h to the teachers in the morning, the students in the afternoon and the parents /community in the evening. Details are still being worked out. Esther asked if MADAM could have a booth at the Baldwin event. Patti said yes. Doreen will bring information and the traveling exhibit. Steve read the mission statement of the Meth Advisory Board. This generated discussion about resources. Patti (Baldwin) said she did know where to refer addicts and families for local help. Esther told Patti about the support group sponsored by MADAM in New Richmond. Doreen gave her information on MADAM, her business card and the newsletter. Steve told Patti there is support a group in Ellsworth for users and another for families. He told her to contact Reggie Christianson at the Health and Human Services Department in Ellsworth. As for treatment issues, Steve suggested contacting the AODA Department at the county. Also, some places have DEC Teams which aren't available in St. Croix County. Dennis said the police could contact a person or family at their home if there was enough evidence that the person was are using/abusing. This he referred to as the "knock and talk" approach. Brad (Somerset) said that teachers are required by law to report suspicious behavior to social services. Dana (Hudson) asked, "When do you call child protection "? Steve suggested the schools contact child protection and let them decide if there is enough evidence to investigate. Child protection will know what kind of evidence is needed to report the case, as it is a legal issue. Steve asked what the schools were doing for kids who are using Meth. Patti (Baldwin) said not much. She said the schools need to restructure their policies and procedures. She said the schools need new guidelines. Steve asked Patti what is the priority? Patti (Baldwin) said procedures. They need procedures to follow when they suspect a student is "high ". Bridget (New Richmond) suggested suspicious students be reported to the police. Dennis (Sheriff) asked what the school would do to follow -up when a student has been reported to the police. It was agreed that there are gaps between the service systems. Bridget said there needs to be a procedure to screen for high risk; Dennis said we need new legislation. Brad (Somerset) and Bill (St. Croix Central) said issues about drug and alcohol are taught in the school but their health books are now two years old and don' t include information on Meth. They suggested the advisory committee set up a curriculum for the schools to use. Jamie (River Falls) said she can not devote enough school time to Meth and Bridget (New Richmond) said that teachers are asked do a lot of non - academic teaching these days and this takes away from skills needed for said that adolescents think they can kick any habit so she focused on why the drug was addicting. It was a very comprehensive presentation. Esther asked what the other school districts were doing. Patti (Baldwin) said Tim Schultz would speak on March O h to the teachers in the morning, the students in the afternoon and the parents /community in the evening. Details are still being worked out. Esther asked if MADAM could have a booth at the Baldwin event. Patti said yes. Doreen will bring information and the traveling exhibit. Steve read the mission statement of the Meth Advisory Board. This generated discussion about resources. Patti (Baldwin) said she did know where to refer addicts and families for local help. Esther told Patti about the support group sponsored by MADAM in New Richmond. Doreen gave her information on MADAM, her business card and the newsletter. Steve told Patti there is support a group in Ellsworth for users and another for families. He told her to contact Reggie Christianson at the Health and Human Services Department in Ellsworth. As for treatment issues, Steve suggested contacting the AODA Department at the county. Also, some places have DEC Teams which aren't available in St. Croix County. Dennis said the police could contact a person or family at their home if there was enough evidence that the person was are using/abusing. This he referred to as the "knock and talk" approach. Brad (Somerset) said that teachers are required by law to report suspicious behavior to social services. Dana (Hudson) asked, "When do you call child protection "? Steve suggested the schools contact child protection and let them decide if there is enough evidence to investigate. Child protection will know what kind of evidence is needed to report the case, as it is a legal issue. Steve asked what the schools were doing for kids who are using Meth. Patti (Baldwin) said not much. She said the schools need to restructure their policies and procedures. She said the schools need new guidelines. Steve asked Patti what is the priority? Patti (Baldwin) said procedures. They need procedures to follow when they suspect a student is "high ". Bridget (New Richmond) suggested suspicious students be reported to the police. Dennis (Sheriff) asked what the school would do to follow -up when a student has been reported to the police. It was agreed that there are gaps between the service systems. Bridget said there needs to be a procedure to screen for high risk; Dennis said we need new legislation. Brad (Somerset) and Bill (St. Croix Central) said issues about drug and alcohol are taught in the school but their health books are now two years old and don' t include information on Meth. They suggested the advisory committee set up a curriculum for the schools to use. Jamie (River Falls) said she can not devote enough school time to Meth and Bridget (New Richmond) said that teachers are asked do a lot of non - academic teaching these days and this takes away from skills needed for performance tests. Brad (Somerset) suggested that the Advisory Committee be given a copy of the school districts rules on alcohol and drug abuse. He said this will help the Advisory Committee develop a curriculum, which the schools can spread over time rather than teach all at once. Katie asked if the information on Meth could be delivered at an "All School Assembly ". Bridget (New Richmond) said that this approach takes up too much instructional time; someone else said that was too many kids to monitor at one time. Brad (Somerset) said they have more success with instructing by class year rather than a group assembly. Steve said the Advisory Committee could be used as a resource library if we knew who wanted information and for what age. He said we could send updates to school. Bridget (New Richmond) said CESA (Cooperative Education Service Agency) has lots of information too. Linda asked if any of the schools had used the SOS Players and were they a good resource to use to get the message out to students about the woes of Meth. Bridget (New Richmond) said they preformed at their school and it was well received. However, it cost over $600 and they did not have funding for that. Esther suggested that service organizations like Rotary might we willing to cover the costs of the SOS Players. Dana (Hudson) said that the SOS Players have performed five times at their school in grades k- 12 and the students have had enough of them. Dana (Hudson) said students and parents need resources. For example, where do you get drug testing or counseling when parents can't afford the services? How can students get into the SMART mentoring program? Bill (St. Croix Central) suggested that all resources be posted on a poster in the school and keep it updated. Others agreed the poster is essential. Steve asked how could we get the information to the parents? Bill (St. Croix Central) said most schools have newsletters which go to the parents and the information could be posted on the website. Cindy (River Falls) said that bus drivers should be sent information on the Meth resources too. Dana (Hudson) said parents want to know step by step what to do to get help. Esther said the Advisory Committee would make a draft of the procedures /steps and send to school district representatives to review. She asked for the email addresses of the representatives present. Bridget (New Richmond) said there are AODA school coordinators meetings 3 -4 times a year and this is a good source of information and a good place to disseminate information. Esther said that the Advisory Committee and MADAM would come to the schools with information. She encouraged the schools to contact us. Steve said there is more money coming for treatment. Wisconsin applied to the Feds for monies for a project that supports infrastructure for helping adolescents on Meth. This program is called "Project Fresh Light ". Denise asked who would be the contact person for the school representatives. Esther said Steve is the contact for the Advisory Committee and Doreen is the contact for MADAM. Also, Steve will be the person who will receive the Drug and Alcohol Polices from the schools. Esther sincerely thanked the school representatives for their insights and recommendations and adjourned the meeting. Esther will be giving a presentation on the Advisory Committee at the County Board of Supervisors Meeting on Jan. 17 about 10:30 am at the Government Center. She would like all Advisory Committee members to attend if available. Meeting Adjourned at 4:30 pm. Respectfully Submitted Linda M. Robertson Please change the email address of Denise Gunderson. The new one is dgunderl (a),yahoo.com