Date:  

February 9, 2006

Facilitator:  Maureen Cary

Location:

3 Blue Streak Blvd., 2^nd floor, School District Administrative Offices

Recorder: Robin Ambrosino

Attendees:

Robin Ambrosino, Kelley Bayer, Lori Beer, Kati Behrens, Maureen Cary,
Becky Dixon, Gary Forward, Roberta Goliber, Michelle Hadden, Stephanie Lang,
Mike Laudicina, Marie MacPherson, Diane McGarry, Annie McGlynn, Derra McNamara,
Tim Moon, Ed Moore, Jim Murphy, Tom Paskewich, Karen Pettigrew, Brenda Quinn, Katie Ronk, Judy Tirelli.

Materials Distributed:

Battle of the Belts seatbelt promotion flyer, Parent-Youth survey results PowerPoint notes

Overview

News & Announcements

 ·      MADD Capital Region has its meetings on the first Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. in Latham. They are working to bring MADD’s multimedia program to high schools in the Capital region during the first two weeks of May. There will be two shows at Saratoga High School in the morning of May 12^th for all 9-12^th graders.

 ·      There are two new programs at the YMCA – a tutoring program from 4-6 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays and an Earth Service Corps, which will focus on environmental education and service learning. For more information, call 583-9622 ext. 137.

 ·      The Prevention Council’s annual Safe Spring conference will take place on March 16 at Skidmore College, starting at 8:30 a.m. The keynote speaker is Bobby Petrocelli, a motivational speaker who will discuss his personal experience as a victim of DWI.

 ·      As part of this year’s pre-prom season, a Battle of the Belts competition is open to area middle and high schools to raise awareness about seat belt use. Teams of students will compete for the fastest buckle-up time. Preliminary competitions must be held before April 15^th, since regional schools are invited to send their winning teams to the championship competition at Sean’s Run in Chatham, NY, on April 23^rd. There will be awards for the fastest teams, those with the best T-shirts, and most enthusiastic spectators. To register or for more information, contact Mark French at 518-392-5483, or MarkFrench@taconic.net.

 ·      There will be a press conference at the Saratoga County District Attorney’s office in Ballston Spa at 11 a.m. on Monday, March 6^th to kick off National Problem Gambling Awareness Week. This event will also raise awareness about a conference on adolescent gambling on Thursday, April 27^th at Longfellows Inn and Conference Center. Keynote speaker will be Jeff Derevensky of McGill University, an international expert in adolescent gambling research and prevention. For more information or to register, call 581-1230 ext. 25.

 ·      Tim Moon was contacted by Schenectady’s community coalition leader about participating in a regional town hall meeting. A variety of regional coalitions will be submitting Communities That Care youth survey data to a central database. Richard Catalano, who co-developed the risk and protection model, will analyze this data and then speak about the results at the regional town hall meeting. The meeting will take place from 3-5 p.m. on March 28 in the ballroom at the University of Albany.

 ·      Crime Victims’ Rights Week will begin with a candlelight vigil at the Presbyterian New England Congregational Church on Sunday, April 23^rd at 2 p.m. Events are scheduled throughout the Capital Region that week, including a DWI Memorial Ceremony at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, April 25^th on Congress Street in Troy, and a Crime Victim Memorial Ground Breaking at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 27^th in Albany.

·      Tim will discuss this opportunity with staff and decide whether to participate.

Partnership Updates

·      Partnership staff are currently helping Dorothy Nolan Elementary pilot a Strengthening Families course for 5^th grade families. Staff are hoping to bring the program to the other elementary schools in the district in the coming year, since many schools have expressed interest in sponsoring the program.

·      This year’s Drug Free Communities grant application is due March 15^th. Unlike previous years, it’s not as competitive or involved an application process. Maureen thanked partners for the planning they did at the January meeting, since that will help staff shape the workplan portion of the application.

 ·      This will be Robin’s last meeting before her maternity leave. She’ll be back in June.

Youth-Adult Survey
Results

·      Maureen presented the survey results. There were a few data categories that need to be clarified. Staff will make necessary changes before forwarding results to school district board members and then the press.

·      Stephanie Lang would like to hear an overview of general trends going on in the community from various groups – i.e., child abuse, crime trends, etc. – as they may relate to the survey results.

·      Partners were also interested in getting more information about the current 10^th grade class based on reports in the Youth Survey and comments at a recent meeting.

·      There was also a discussion about the elevated marijuana scores, but disinterest in the issue because New York State has decriminalized marijuana. If someone is caught with small amount of pot, it would qualify under the statutes only as a violation. Kids may report “No risk” or “slight risk” on the survey as related to repercussions from law enforcement, not necessarily with respect to their health.

·      Jim Murphy will give a presentation on general drug trends at the May 2nd Health and Human Services Coalition meeting, including drug court, misdemeanor drug court, sales of cocaine, oxycontin, ecstasy, etc.

·  Group agreed that this would be an informative presentation to have at a future meeting.

·  Jim Murphy said he and Ed Moore could get together and present community-based information on these kinds of subjects to the group in April.

 ·  Maureen asked partners to consider what other topics would be of similar interest for future reference.

Community Laws &
Norms
Committee

There wasn’t enough time for committees to meet, but Ed Moore gave an update about the concept of a tip line that came up during the Community Laws and Norms committee meeting in January:

• Ed is in the process of working with Joe Dalton and the Chamber of Commerce on the possibility of using the anonymous drug tip line as an underage drinking party informant line as well.
   
• There is a reward system for the existing drug tip line, with $20,000 donated by the Chamber. The Chamber also pays the phone bill. The line has been very successful:  over 50 people have been prosecuted in Saratoga County Court for felony drug cases that came in on the tip line. It’s a county-wide tip line, but the majority of the reward money is used within the SSPD and State Police jurisdictions.
   
• Using the line for underage drinking would be a great way to show cooperation among community members, law enforcement, and the business community. It may also help to stop parties hosted by parents, which ties into the “Parents Who Host Lose the Most” campaign.
   
• There was concern that kids might look to the tip line to make money, but Ed said there would be specific criteria about how and when to pay. Police would need to verify the source of the information and the information itself that came in on the line before authorizing payment. No payments would be made for anonymous calls – anonymity does not hold up in court.

Ed is waiting to hear back from Joe Dalton about his proposal.

Next
Meeting

The next Partnership meeting will take place on Thursday, March 9^th, in the administrative offices at 3 Blue Streak Blvd. at 3:30 p.m.