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Vol. 3, No. 26 - FREE - www.advocatenews.net Lynnfield@advocatenews.net 978-777-6397 Friday, June 30, 2017
Senior Open to all ages A LINK TO
WISDOM: Hale
Substance abuse has a new foe in Lynnfield School Committee, Selectmen reinforce role in joint meeting
Irwin had the attention of the
By Melanie Higgins
young audience
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during the kid’s clinic at the 2017 Senior Open at the Salem Country Club on Tuesday. See pages 4 and 9 for the Advocate’s coverage of this historic sporting event. (Advocate photo by Greg Phipps)
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ast Monday the Board of Selectmen and the Lynnfield School Committee met jointly to discuss the topic of Substance Abuse Prevention in Lynnfield. The meeting comes on the heels of the newly established Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, which was created with the aim of curbing and preventing substance use within Lynnfield borders. Selectman Philip Crawford has mostly spearheaded the Coalition, which as of Monday night totals 38 members of the community. The Coalition, in its definition, is required to include members of all areas of the community, from health care professionals, to clergy, to schools and teachers, to public safety officials and many more. It provides “awareness and education”“as well as resources and treatment” and addresses all members of the community, not just Lynnfield’s youngest. Crawford said that moving forward, the Coalition will continue to reach out to the community. He said that a plan is in the works to script and produce a “youth video” that will be able to repeatedly reach Lynnfield’s youths in a compelling and effective way. He also said that the Coalition will come up with a parent survey for the fall that will be administered at around the same time schoolchildren take the “youth risk survey.” Additionally, he said, there will be a more concerted effort to distribute information through a Facebook page (in the works) and articles in the local newspapers. “Hidden in plain sight,” an educational tool that helps parents monitor their children’s behavior and potential drug use, is supposed to be implemented this fall. Currently, Crawford said, the Coalition is putting together a budget. “You do need a lot of people working on this,” Craw-
ford said, adding that so far, 15 medical professionals have joined the coalition. Superintendent of Schools Jane Tremblay, on the School Committee side, noted the concentrated effort among schools in the coming year to promote resiliency and thereby help bolster self-esteem, decreasing the likelihood that Lynnfield’s youngest will turn to drugs and alcohol. “Socially, our students need to know how to regulate and control their own behaviors that will help them build confidence and help them,” Tremblay said. “When our students don’t have that healthy social emotional view, it creates unhealthy behaviors,” she continued. She said the past year, in particular, has seen an uptick of troubling behavior among students, such as feelings of sadness and substance abuse. Moving forward, Tremblay emphasized the “Social-Emotional” learning component as crucial in children’s health and development. As part of the schools’ recent trend of including noted speakers in school discussions, Tremblay reported, speaker Ed Gerety will soon be visiting to speak both with teachers, Middle School students, and High School students. Tremblay called Gerety’s message, centered on “living intentionally,” “very powerful.” In the past, noted therapist Dr. Robert Brooks has come to speak on the topic of resiliency. Over the years, she said, the schools’ Transitional Learning Program and inclusion of a School Resource Officer have helped significantly in aiding students. She also noted the success of the High Schools’“Compass” Student Advisory Program and touted it as an important part of the fight against substance abuse. In that vein, she emphasized the importance of strong leadership
ABUSE | SEE PAGE 5