Drug Awareness Team formed for VHCS

In September, Vestavia Hills City Schools held the first meeting of its Drug Awareness Team, a new initiative in the system’s fight against substance abuse among young people.

The Drug Awareness Team consists of administrators from the district level, middle schools and high school, a representative from a local drug testing agency, a Drug Court judge, members of the city’s PTO and Leadership Vestavia Hills, school counselors, and Brad Blount, a Vestavia Hills High School alumnus who speaks publicly about his recovery from drug addiction. The team will likely expand as new needs are identified, team member and Vestavia Hills Board of Education President Kym Prewitt said.

“Drug and alcohol abuse is an issue everywhere, so we decided to convene a team to look at what tools we already have in place, as well as other programs and ideas that we could explore to help us better combat the problem,” Prewitt said.

Judge Shanta Owens, a team member who presides over felony drug abuse cases in her Birmingham courtroom, said in the meeting that one of the challenges of combating substance abuse was that many users have figured out methods of passing drug tests while addicted.  

Team members discussed current and ongoing programs the city and school system are utilizing to raise awareness about substance abuse, including a recent “Help the Hills” town hall meeting that will be held again on January 5, 2015, and the school system’s new Voluntary Drug Testing Program, which enrolled some 300 students at the start of the school year, according to VHCS Director of Administrative Services David Howard. Also highlighted was the district’s partnership with IMPACT Family Counseling for its upcoming Strengthening Families Program, a three-week course of study beginning in late September for middle and high school families, which will discuss substance abuse prevention and family dynamics.

Attendees proposed several ideas, such as cross-promoting drug prevention events being held in neighboring school systems and providing parents with a centralized, online hub of resources to learn about drug prevention and to help children who have become addicted. The Drug Awareness Team is scheduled to meet monthly through the remainder of the year, Prewitt said.

More information about the district’s Strengthening Families Program is available at vestavia.k12.al.us/newsfeed.cfm.

-Submitted by Whit McGhee