Community Conversation Grant Sparks A New Topic

By Eliza Hallabeck

More than 100 people gathered in Reed Intermediate School’s cafetorium on Saturday, January 23, to discuss underage drinking. The event was underwritten by a grant from the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund.

“We have a stake in this issue,” said Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson during the morning’s introduction.

Dr Robinson spoke briefly to welcome participants, thanked all for coming, and added another thank you to the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund for helping the Newtown community hold the conversation on underage drinking.

“Alcohol certainly interferes with their growth emotionally,” Dr Robinson said, “physically, and it interferes with their school work as well.”

Chief of Police Michael Kehoe oversaw the introduction of the topic, and explained what participants could expect during the program, which went from 9 am until 1 pm.

Mary Broderick, with the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund, attended the event, and said after she thought it went well.

“They were extremely positive, beyond what I have seen anywhere,” said Ms Broderick. She added, Newtown did a nice job planning the event and getting people there on Saturday. According to Ms Broderick, community conversations have been held in more than 100 towns in the state through grants from the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund.

This is the second year Newtown has taken part in a community conversation. Last year Newtown’s topic was meanness and bullying.

Once the gathered community volunteers had learned what they could expect for the day, they were broken into teams. The teams then went to different classrooms to highlight concerns, problem areas, and points the community can strive to work toward. The teams later reported back to the full group to further discussion.

District Health Coordinator Judy Blanchard said there was a large turnout for this year’s topic, including Parks and Recreation football coaches, parents of students from all grade levels, police, school staff and administration, religious and community leaders, and community members from multiple age groups.

“I was most impressed, however, with the middle school and high school student turn out,” said Ms Blanchard. “These young people added a much-needed dimension to the conversations, and they gave thoughtful and articulate insight in the problem of underage drinking.”

During the event, Ms Blanchard said she was able to rotate through the eight small group discussions, and she “was impressed with the energy being generated and the passion the participants had for the topic.”

Another Meeting In March

Responses brought back to the group will be used as launch points for the next meeting of the community conversation, according to Ms Blanchard. That meeting is tentatively scheduled for March 25.

“I was especially struck by the breadth of discussion that is generated when such a diverse group of community members sit down to discuss a topic,” Ms Blanchard said. “The energy, ideas, comments, and concerns that were brought forth covered so many different perspectives. I think the actions that we eventually take will be more effective because of it.”

Newtown High School student Michelle Davies said she had to leave the community conversation early for work, but added that while she was there, she and her friends from school were slightly nervous about talking freely on the topic with adults.

“I just think it is not a parenting issue,” said Michelle. “If [underage students] are going to drink, they are going to drink.”

Parents, Michelle added, should take the time to go over the topic with their children, but students who want to drink will do so.

While Michelle said she felt a different perspective than the adults at the community conversation, NHS student Megan Fahy said she enjoyed the community conversation.

“I really liked it,” Megan said, “because we got to hear everyone’s different perspectives.”

Both Michelle and Megan said they plan on attending the next meeting of the conversation.

“For me,” Megan said, “it opened my eyes to see how many people are aware of the problem.”

Newtown High School PTSA President Sarah Beier said she felt the event was positive, and raised awareness.

“I think we really need to focus on the parents,” said Ms Beier, and added the Newtown Parent Connection has been doing that for years.

 Speaking about the 2009 Youth Survey, which questions Newtown youth anonymously yearly on the topic of drug and alcohol use and was presented to the Newtown Prevention Council on January 21, Ms Beier said the number of students who responded their parents are aware when alcohol is being served at parties is alarming.

At the community conversation on Saturday, “The one thing everyone did agree on is underage drinking is not okay at someone else’s house,” said Ms Beier, adding many at the conversation were unaware that parents serving alcohol to their own children is legal. Parents who serve alcohol to other people’s children is not legal.

Ms Beier said one thing she is hoping will help get word out to parents, beyond the community conversation, is a forum for high school freshmen and their parents on the same topic. The forum is still coming together, but Ms Beier said she hopes to get as many parents to attend as possible, which will most likely be scheduled for sometime in April for a night assembly.

At the community conversation event, Ms Beier said, one topic discussed as needing work is educating the public on underage drinking.

Another helpful thing, Ms Beier said, would be setting up an anonymous party text tip line for students and other community members to contact when they learn about underage drinking.

“It is a way to help the kids not partying to alert the people who need to know what is going on,” she said, adding she would like the Police Commission to lead the town in stepping up policing for underage drinking.

“They did it for speeding,” Ms Beier said. “This issue demands we put resources toward it as well.”

Saturday’s meeting, and future meetings for the community conversation, are possible through a $2,500 grant from the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund.

During the introduction for the day, Chief of Police Michael Kehoe thanked the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund, Bagel Delight for providing breakfast, the Newtown Prevention Council, and the core planning group for the event, Newtown Prevention Council Co-Chairs Joan Piscitelli and Beth Agen, District Health Coordinator Judy Blanchard, Assistant Superintendent of Schools Linda Gejda, and Newtown High School Assistant Principal Jaime Rivera.

After delivering the introduction of the topic, Chief Kehoe said Dr Robinson had described the topic perfectly.

“It is a community problem,” he said, “and it is going to take a broad base and understanding to really tackle it.”