Karen Perry tells the story of losing her son to a drug overdose while he was away at college. It is a gut-wrenching thing to hear, her anguish in sharing that it all began with him smoking marijuana when he was about 15. That she and her son’s father got him into treatment, transferred him to another college, and still … a middle-of-the-night visit from the police brought the awful news.
Perry told her story to a recent gathering of parents at Spanish River High School. She is a co-founder of the nonprofit NOPE (Narcotics Overdose Prevention & Education) Task Force, which visits schools and parent groups all over Palm Beach County. Your middle- or high-school student may have seen the NOPE program in recent weeks.
As an educated parent, you may think you’ve heard it all before. But a couple of the task force’s messages were startling:
This has become the leading cause of non-natural death in Palm Beach County, with someone dying of an overdose every 28 hours.
What’s new about that? Eighty-five percent of them had more than one drug in their system. And that is a real danger for kids, who are experimenting with prescription drugs stolen from their parents – or bought from their peers.
Gary Martin, an associate dean at Lynn University and a former drug agent and homicide detective with the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office, said, “The kids think they’re invincible. They think they know about drugs and what they can handle. But no one knows what will happen when they mix them,” Martin said, adding that it’s not an issue of trust, but a matter of “risk ignorance.”
Many instances can be traced back to the home, which is the main source of drugs and alcohol used by kids age 12-14. (Solution: Keep track of how much you have and lock it up; throw out what you don’t need).
In 2006, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse reported that a third of teens have attended parties where parents were present and alcohol was served to minors. (Remember October 2010 when two Boca Raton parties involving high-schoolers got out of control? Parents were arrested in both cases.)
It is against the law to serve alcohol to minors in your home – and opens you up to civil liability if anything goes wrong.
“You have to be the parent. You have to take control. You have to know what your kids are doing all the time,” said PBSO Capt.Jeffery Lindskoog.
The middle school years are prime for experimentation. The average age of the first use of alcohol or drugs is 13 in Palm Beach County. It used to be 11.
What to do
If you find drugs or alcohol in child’s belongings, Martin advises:
How to talk to your kids about drugs
Lynn Guelzow from The Hanley Center, a treatment facility in West Palm Beach, gave some guidance:
Guelzow said it’s also important to tell other parents when you know their child is using drugs or alcohol. They may not speak to you any more, but it’s the right thing to do.
Perry later learned that her son had a prior non-fatal overdose earlier and several people knew about it. No one told her.
To Learn More
For more information or to get help, visit NOPE’s website www.nopetaskforce.org, call 561-478-1055 or visit NOPE’s Facebook page.
- CHARLENE PACENTI
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UPDATED: September 2011
Photos courtesy of Loggers' Run Community Middle School
Forensic science and cooking are on the “choice” menu at Loggers’ Run Community Middle School west of Boca Raton.
Those two academies serve students interested in careers in medical science – and food science, both hands-on programs designed to give real-world experiences.
In forensics, students learn the connection to life science and how to identify health concerns. By eighth grade, they solve “crimes.”
In culinary arts, kids don’t just learn how to cook. They’re also learning how to run a restaurant.
Loggers’ Run, at 11584 W. Palmetto Pk. Rd.. is the smallest public middle school in the area with 1,100 students. For sixth grade next year, the school expects to have 30 seats in the culinary arts program and 60 in the medical/forensic science academy. As with the county’s other middle school “choice” programs, you have to submit an application to the school district by Dec. 16 to get into the academies. Selections are made by lottery.
The school is known as a nice place to be, with little turnover among the faculty and staff.
“We have very little behavior problems. This is a very easy school to teach and work at,” said academy director Richard Kabinoff.
Outside the academies, Loggers’ Run offers gifted, advanced, honors and special education classes.
For sixth- and seventh-graders, it has a full-time gifted program.
Students have the opportunity to earn high school credits. Most go on to West Boca High School, which also has a culinary program, or Spanish River High, which offers a forensic biotechnology concentration.
Elective classes include computers, culinary, band, chorus and Spanish. After-school activities include a robotics club, drama club, yearbook, chess club, academic games and more – plus, three earth-friendly clubs.
Loggers’ Run has the full line-up of middle school sports – basketball, soccer, baseball, etc. (but not swimming).
Other details
School day: 9 a.m. to 3:35 p.m. Kids can be dropped off at 8:30 and go to the cafeteria, gym or media center. After-school programs run until 5:25 p.m. with last bus leaving at 5:30 p.m.
Uniforms: No, but there is a dress code.
Rated: “A” for the past 10 years. One of four middle schools in Palm Beach County (along with Bak , Omni and Roosevelt) to meet “Adequate Yearly Progress,” a federal standard. To learn more
Visit the school’s academies homepage.
Visit the school website.
Call the school at 561-883-8000.
BocaParent is exploring all the middle school options for Boca Raton. Find links to the public, private and parochial schools on our Middle School page. Read more about: Boca Raton Community Middle School Don Estridge High Tech Middle School Bak Middle School of the Arts Omni Middle School
BocaParent is exploring all the middle school options for Boca Raton. Find links to the public, private and parochial schools on our Middle School page.
Read more about:
Boca Raton Community Middle School
Don Estridge High Tech Middle School
Bak Middle School of the Arts
Omni Middle School
Omni Middle School, an A-rated school in a sprawling campus next to Woodfield Country Club, stands out in a couple of big ways:
The school grounds are lovingly landscaped by Assistant Principal Greg Bridges, who tools around on a golf cart fixing things and making the kids laugh.
The campus is open and airy with breezeways connecting the many brick buildings, most of them built in 1990, that house the classrooms. Modular buildings have been added as the school has grown.
Some of the sports fields are in need of repair.
Elementary schools that feed into Omni include Whispering Pines, Calusa, Del Prado, Verde and some students from Morikami (though the school district is considering some boundary changes). But any “gifted” student with an EP can go to Omni, as well. All you have to do is register. That process starts the first week of August.
Like most local middle schools, Omni administrators are taking a proactive approach to behavior and bullying issues, getting teachers to recognize that they are on the front lines and engaging students in stopping mistreatment.
“When they see kids doing something wrong, they do come and report it. They’re very good about that,” Bridges said.
Kids who participate in bullying are suspended.
Omni students feed into Spanish River, Olympic Heights and Boca High schools. Omni has no academies or “choice” programs, but Bridges said they will steer students with a defined interest to the right high school program.
Electives include band, art, drama, French and Spanish. After-school clubs include Chess, Math Counts, Language Arts Academic Games and more. Sports include baseball, soccer, volleyball and track.
OTHER DETAILS
No uniforms. Dress code calls for polo shirts and pants – jeans OK; no sweatpants. No skirts or skorts for girls. No open-toe shoes.
The school day runs 9:25-4:05. There are plenty of fee-based after-school activities. There is no morning supervision before 9 a.m.
The PTSA, which is very active in the school, hosts tours and an orientation in the spring.
School address: 5775 Jog Rd.
School website: omnimiddle.org
Bus routes
UPDATED: September, 2011
A Bak student performance of 'Anything Goes.'
If you have a budding artist or performer on your hands, you will want to consider signing up for an audition to Bak Middle School of the Arts.
The beautiful campus has fully outfitted theater studios, a broadcast studio, soundproof practice rooms for musicians, a scenery shop and a costume studio, among other amenities. Students perform all over town – and out of town.
For we Boca Raton parents, the school itself is out of town – at 1725 Echo Lake Dr., north of downtown West Palm Beach. Students can commute via Tri-Rail for free, then take a five-minute bus ride to the school. Some 300-400 South County students make the trip on three train cars, which are chaperoned.
Some of us may be initially uncomfortable with that, but we’re told there are more incidents on buses than the Tri-Rail, which is a fast, 30-minute ride.
MORE ON CURRICULUM
Bak students take the core classes required of all middle schoolers – language arts, math, science, etc. They use their electives for their arts major. (And sixth-graders have to take PE). French and Spanish are offered, too.
The school offers ESE, advanced, gifted and regular classes, as well as some Advance Placement and high school-level classes.
Even in the arts classes, academics are stressed. A costume instructor on a tour of the school explained that 85 percent of the work in his class is reading. Students had to do research to design costumes that fit the period. They had to use math to make the patterns.
EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
Bak offers several clubs and sports teams outside the arts, including volleyball, basketball, track soccer, chess club, dance team, academic games and more.
ADMISSIONS PROCESS
The long road to a coveted spot begins with the Dec. 16 application deadline for all the Palm Beach County public school “choice” programs. If you want to get your kid into Bak, make it your first choice.
About 2,000 students are expected to apply for about 450 sixth-grade slots, divided among the disciplines. (For instance, about 60-65 students will be accepted for communications).
Next, you need to go to Bak in January in person to schedule an audition for your child.
Auditions will be scheduled for January and February. You can find detailed instructions for what is required of each major at the school’s website.
The school’s magnet coordinator, Lee Glaze, told parents on a tour last fall that auditioning is a fun learning experience for the kids. He also advised against overly coaching them or doing the work for them: “Judges will know.”
The three-judge panel will be looking for natural ability.
Students who pass the audition will be entered into a lottery, in which the seats will be filled by the district at random. (You may audition for up to two different majors).
You’ll be notified by May 1 whether your child is admitted. But the process can drag into August, as some students decline the seat or move away.
No uniforms.
The school day is 8:30 a.m. to 3:05 p.m.
Morning and after-care are available.
Parents do a lot of fund-raising.
School tours are given from 8:45 to 10:30 a.m. Tuesday and Thursday mornings through December by appointment. Call 561-882-3801 to sign up.
MORE ONLINE
School website
MORE ON BOCAPARENT.COM
Read about other choice programs and find links to all the public, parochial and private schools, open house dates and more on our Middle School page.
For parents with a kid in fifth-grade this year, what are you thinking about for middle school?
Will you stay the course – with either the public or private system you’re in now? Or will you make a switch?
Will you apply for a magnet program?
What’s on your mind regarding the choices we have here in Boca?
BocaParent is setting out to research all the options. So tell us what you want to know. And tell us here in the comments what you’re thinking.
And parents who already have kids in middle school, tell us your impressions so far this year.
See more about the project and find links to all the schools on our Middle School page.
