Published June 11, 2020
By JILLIAN STRING
NORTH READING — The fourth annual drug-free communities (DFC) Core Measurement Survey will be administered to students in grades 6-12 this month, DFC Program Director Amy Luckiewicz told the School Committee at its June 1 meeting.
“As you know, each year we do take core measurement questions related to underage substance use within North Reading,” Luckiewicz said.
In 2016, The North Reading Youth Substance Use Prevention Coalition, a part of the Community Impact Team, was awarded a grant from the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). The award provides $625,000 in DFC grant funds, over five years, to involve and engage the local community in preventing substance use among youth.
The DFC grant requires that a student survey be administered annually to measure the use and perceptions of risk associated with alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and prescription drugs.
For the third consecutive year, the Community Impact Team (CIT) also added vaping to the survey to learn more about trends in this area.
To fulfill the grant requirements, the survey must gather data pertaining to past 30-day use, peer approval, perceptions of risk or harm, and parental approval.
Luckiewicz stated that the survey also includes some-school specific questions, such as school safety and climate.
Due to the COVID-19 school closures, Luckiewicz expressed her concern regarding participation because all students will have to complete the online survey at home this year.
“In past years we’ve had, on average, a 95 percent participation rate, which is extremely high, and I think that’s because we take it in the schools,” Luckiewicz explained to the board. “I’m anticipating a low participation, especially among grade 12, unfortunately.”
The last day of school for the town’s seniors was May 29.
Luckiewicz added that low participation may skew the data, which is unfortunate since year four is usually when patterns begin to emerge within data sets.
School Committee member Rich McGowan asked what could be done to increase participation among students.
“I’m hoping (the) Student Council will encourage it,” Luckiewicz said. “Because the link is 100 percent secure and private; nobody else has the code to access it. We’re hoping that if we put it out on social media that we’ll get some more participation that way.”
Superintendent Dr. Patrick Daly noted that Middle School Principal Dr. Cathy O’Connell and High School Principal Anthony Loprete will be advocating for student participation along with the health teachers at each school.
Luckiewicz noted that the data will be reported back to the School Committee once the survey has been completed.