Coalition Meeting 9/3/2015
Attendance: Bill Gentes, Khris Condon, Craig Lepkowski, John Maher, Sean Welsh, Lauren Reaumond,
Julie Abdallah, Martha Zeeman, Diane Kennedy, Meg Kincaid, Mike Hosking, Susan Simms, Sylvie
Turcotte, Carly Quick, Suzanne Walker, Jorie Alutto, Monika Toczycki
SpeakUp! Prevention Coalition Meeting
We started out the meeting with Khris giving us an update on the Coalition summer activities that
occurred.
1. July 4th we had a Teen Zone from 10am – 12 pm at the Grace Methodist Church parking lot.
a. Had volunteers which set up food, monitored the obstacle course and games.
b. Had music and games (inflatable obstacle course, baggo, pop-a-shot, ping pong).
c. Bagels, cream cheese and refreshments were available for teens.
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2. 4 of July Festival and Fireworks changes from prior years.
a. Khris has been working with the organizers for the last few years on making changes to
the event to reduce underage drinking. This year:
i. Individuals under 21 attending without their parents were not allowed to bring
in their own water bottles.
ii. There was a tip hot line which was advertised on the jumbotron and at the
entrance for people to call in tips about underage drinking or other drug use.
iii. A trained staff was hired to work in the beer tent to serve adults at the event.
1. In the past only the head of the committee was Bassett trained; now all
of the servers were Bassett trained.
iv. Our banner of “Please don’t serve teens” banner was up again this year.
3. Lake Forest Days.
a. The American Legion which currently does the beer garden on the enclosed tennis
courts was considering allowing adults to walk around with alcohol during the carnival.
Khris managed to convince them that they way that they are serving alcohol is
safer for teens, they should consider themselves as a model for other events, and
not relax their safe standards.
There was a discussion on whether kids are really drinking less or are they just hiding it better. Julie
brought up how through social media kids now organize themselves much more efficiently than
they used to. They come over to a student’s house and then leave soon after. Parents may think
that their student is still being supervised by adults at the house where they were, but they leave
and go where they want to where there is most likely no supervision. What can parents do to keep
track of their kids?
1. Can we influence behavior?
a. We saw a change in behavior with the Choices Matter Halloween campaign.
i. There were less adults walking around w/alcohol while trick-or-treating.
2. Do we change the environment?
a. Providing more fun alcohol free events and alternatives.
Changes to the Parent Teens and the Law – Focus on the whole child.
Khris has been working with LFHS on refocusing the PTL program to be more focused on the whole
student.
1. A social worker will talk about what a student needs.
a. Rules and boundaries and the importance of being consistent.
b. Electronics and social media.
c. Leaving students alone and sleep overs (not recommended – turns into
drinking/drugs use and experimentation or sneaking out)
d. Hearing from students what is tripping them up
e. How to balance life at the high school.
2. It will be for Freshman and Sophomore parents only, no students.
a. Deans will speak.
b. Law enforcement will discuss their perspective.
3. Tips will be offered on what to watch for before things get out of hand.
a. Social host implications for parents.
b. We will try to get a senior to talk about social host from their perspective.
Next we discussed the Parent Resource Tool Kit. Khris has met with parents, counselors and law
enforcement.
1. How do we let parents know that there is this resource for them?
a. Deerpath Middle School has a Parent Awareness committee – this may be a
great way to reach parents.
i. May 10th there is a Jump Start program (for 5th grade)
ii. Get information out at Freshman parent meeting.
b. Is there a wat to involve private and parochial schools.
i. Chris Smith at LFA (?)
c. Include it in Mindset Monday.
d. Post on social media.
Next Bill Gentes from the Lake County Underage Drinking and Drug Prevention Task Force gave us
update on drug box collections.
1. Lake Bluff disposed of 300 lbs.
2. Lake Forest disposed of 700 lbs.
3. Around 300 tablets of controlled substances for every 100 lbs. of prescription drugs are
taken off the streets.
4. There are 26 drug boxes for 40 communities in Lake County.
5. County wide over 8,000 lbs. of prescription medications have been taken off the streets,
with over 42 lbs. of controlled substances at a value of about $549,000.
6. There is a disconnect between pharmacies which are dispensing the drugs and safe disposal.
a. Every Walgreens will have information on where the nearest drug box is located for
disposal of unused medications. This is a new development.
b. There is a house bill in IL which would address a lot of this- but it is not mandatory.
The language in the bill is “shall do it”, pharmacies are not forced to do it.
7. IL Medical Marijuana bill 218. Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner issued an amendatory veto in
August of a bill that would remove criminal penalties for possession of small amount of
marijuana.
a. Gov. Rauner’s amended version of HB 218 would make possession of up to 10 grams
of marijuana a civil law violation punishable by a fine of up to $200 with no
possibility of jail time, and the civil offense would be automatically expunged in
order to prevent a permanent criminal record. The original version applied to
possession of up to 15 grams of marijuana and set the amount of the fine at up to
$125.
b. Gov. Rauner’s amended version lowers the limit from 15 ng/mL to five ng/mL.
Illinois currently has a zero tolerance law that considers drivers to be impaired if
they have any amount of THC in their bodies, including inactive THC metabolites
that can be detectable for several weeks after consuming marijuana.
c. However there are numerous new conditions which qualify for MM, including
migraine headaches , and this is making it easier for youth to obtain marijuana.
d. Gov. Bruce Rauner signed a bill into law that, allows the return of happy hour
alcoholic drink specials, with certain restrictions. Happy hour drink specials had
been banned under Illinois law since 1989 but can immediately begin with Rauner's
signature of the measure.
i. Discounts now will be allowed for up to four hours a day and up to 15 hours
a week, as long as they are advertised a week in advance and aren't offered
after 10 p.m. Volume specials, like two drinks for the price of one, remain
prohibited.
ii. The law includes a requirement that all servers of alcohol in the state take
responsible server training. That training began in Cook County July 1 and
will be phased in throughout the state over the next two years.
Text-a-Tip is really growing. McHenryCounty is the newest addition to Text-a-Tip. Andy Duran will be on
ABC 7 on Sunday September 6th at 9:45 am to discuss with anchor Ravi Baichwal.
1. By the end of September Text-a-Tip will be reaching 1 million people.
a. It is the only 24/7 for adolescents to be staffed by licensed clinicians.
2. Test-a-tip is marketed to students through letters in the loo, stickers on Chromebooks,
and on email signatures from teachers.
3. About 27% of the contacts are about depression and 8% on suicide. The rest are
miscellaneous.
4. It will be incorporated in Wellness for Life at the high school.
Upcoming Events:
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6.
September 9th Middle School movie on the Village Green in Lake Bluff.
September 14th Lake Bluff middle school early release day.
October 24th 8th annual 5K Red Ribbon Race and Wellness Fair.
October 28th Community Conversation on E cigarettes.
November 4th What teens need to be successful at LFHS
The next coalition meeting at the Gorton Center on October 1st .
Thank you for attending.