“Mom! (Cough, cough) I’m sick. I can’t go to school today.” We have all heard this statement or used something similar at one point or another during our school days. It’s the mys-terious “illness” that a child gets in the morning because they do not want to go to school. How-ever, this illness disappears after they have been given permission to stay home, only to return the next morning. The question you need to ask yourself is, “What is causing this problem?” Many children, at some point, have anxiety about going to school. In most cases this can be a normal reaction to the first day of school and the new environ-ments they will experience. How-ever, in the cases where it seems as though your child is experi-encing extreme anxiety, it can be classified as school phobia. A child is considered to have school phobia when they are constantly “sick” or coming up with different excuses for not go-ing to school.

How does school phobia start and how do I know if my child is experiencing it? Every child is different. There are sev-eral triggers for school phobia:

• If a child is being bullied at school.

• Starting a new school (possibly going from elementary to middle

school, as well as middle school to high school).

• Moving to a new area or state that requires them to change school districts.

• Dealing with the death of a loved one or pet.

• Being threatened by the arri-val of a new baby.

• Experiencing a trauma.

• Not having friends.

• Problems at home, such as divorce or illness.

• Fearing academic failure.

Taking a look at this list, it is easy to conclude that there are multiple reasons for a child to develop school phobia.

Fall 2010

Can I Stay Home Today? By Cassandra M. Iannetta, Life Skills Training Facilitator

Reaching Out Norristown Area Communities That Care for Youth

Keeping Youth Safe & Drug Free

Local Businesses Support Campaign to Keep Norristown

Youth Alcohol Free

Research tells us that our youth, most commonly, get alcohol from young adults who are willing to purchase it for them. These indi-viduals do not realize the serious legal consequences they face if they are caught providing alcohol to anyone under the age of 21.

In an effort to educate the community, the Pennsylvania Liq-uor Control Board has developed the “Sticker Shock Project.” This cooperative effort involves youth visiting local distributors and placing warning stickers on cases of beer. The stickers alert adults that if they supply alcohol to mi-nors they will receive a mandatory fine of $1,000 to $2,500 and up to a year in jail for each subsequent offense. Back Talk, the CTC/PAL spon-sored youth group, has taken a leadership role and has initiated the Sticker Shock Project at: • Black Horse Beer and Soda • Jamison’s Beverage • Rothwell’s Swede Square

Beverage • West End Beer Baron These establishments have demonstrated their commitment to keeping the children in the greater Norristown Area safe and alcohol free.

(School Phobia continued on page 3)

Follow The Path To Excellence

By Angela S. Bell, Esquire, Community Mobilizer

Page 2

EDUCATION = OPTIONS

Did You Know? Did you know that students are

required to have 28 credits in

order to graduate from Norris-

town Area High School?

DISCIPLINE AREA COURSES

English (e.g., I*, II*, III, IV) 4 *these courses meet on A & B days

Mathematics (e.g., Algebra I*, Algebra II*, Geometry,

Mathematics Elective) 4 *these courses meet on A & B days

for 9th and 10th graders

Social Studies (e.g., United States History, World History, United

States Government) 4

Science (e.g., Physical, Biology, Chemistry, Environmental, Physics,

Earth & Space) 4

Wellness/Physical Education 1

Thematic Electives (as required by each Small Learning Commu-nity) 6

Additional Electives 5

Total Required for Graduation 28

Looking to explore your options? Here are a few resources:

Central Montco Technical High School 610-277-2301 • www.cmths.org Job Corps 1-800-269-5640 • www.jobcorps.gov Montgomery County Community College 215-641-6300 • www.mc3.edu Montgomery County Education and Workforce Partnership 610-278-5950 • www.mcewp.org Montgomery County Department of Economic & Workforce Development 610-278-5950 www.montcoworks.com Montgomery County OIC (adult basic education/GED) 610-279-9700 The Next Step Program of Montgomery County (GED and career guidance for young adults) 610-292-4596 Norristown Area High School 610-630-5090 • www.nasd.k12.pa.us Pennsylvania CareerLink of Montgomery County 610-270-3429 • www.pacareerlink.state.pa.us www.educationplanner.org www.exploreyourfuture.org

Norristown Area CTC has identified four priority risk factors that increase the likelihood of youth engag-

ing in problem behaviors. Education = Options is a social marketing campaign created in response to the Lack of Commitment to School risk factor. The purpose of the campaign is to educate the greater Nor-

ristown area community about the value of an education and to highlight the numerous vocational and

career paths that are available to them. Of particular importance for NASD students are the actual re-

quirements for high school graduation. Also highlighted in the Education=Options campaign is a vari-ety of resources.

Community Effort to Keep Youth Alcohol Free By Alissa McBride, MSW, Community Prevention Coordinator

Page 3

(School Phobia continued from page 1)

The real issue is knowing how to deal with a child who may be experiencing school phobia.

Here are some helpful tips:

• Talk to your child about the reasons they do not want to go to school.

• Work with your child to help them with the issues that are keeping them from wanting to go to school (bullying, not many friends, peer pressure, etc.).

• Encourage the child to be brave. Tell them you are proud of them for being brave.

• Tell them you love them. • Encourage your child to

find things at school that they can enjoy everyday.

• Most importantly, continue to make sure they are safe and happy.

It is important to be able to rec-ognize when a child is suffering from anxiety or school phobia. School is a place they will have to go to for many years to come. Therefore, if they are experiencing either of these issues it is imperative that we, as parents, address them as soon as possible. As parents, let’s help kids enjoy going to school, and continue to be suc-cessful!

Who can find the time to keep up with their kids lives?

www.FindYour25thHour.org

Norristown Area CTC, the Mont-gomery County Office of Drug and Alcohol, and local law en-forcement continue to tackle the problem of underage drinking in our community.

Funds from the Strategic Preven-tion Framework State Incentive Grant (SPF-SIG) have paved the way for a variety of programs and services de-signed to keep alcohol out of the hands of our kids.

Recent SPF-SIG activities in-clude:

• Joint meetings with CTC, the owners and managers of es-tablishments selling alcohol, representatives of the Penn-sylvania Liquor Control Board and local police officers to develop strategies to prevent youth from getting alcohol.

• Free RAMP (Responsible Al-cohol Management Program) training for all sellers, serv-ers, managers and owners of bars, restaurants and corner stores that hold alcohol li-censes.

• Increased patrols and en-forcement of underage drink-ing laws.

• Free parenting programs in NASD buildings and at com-munity centers.

• Opportunities for youth who receive underage drinking citations to attend two ses-sions of alcohol-related coun-seling (BMI) and perform

community service in place of a con-viction and fines.

• Alcohol preven-tion classes (Life Skills Training) for middle school aged students in

the NASD.

• CTC Youth Subcommittee, Back Talk, whose activities are geared toward the pre-vention of alcohol and drug use.

• The placement of stickers on cases of beer at local dis-tributorships warning of the consequences of purchasing alcohol for minors.

• Community events where parents, youth and key com-munity leaders unite to learn how to keep kids alcohol free.

• Focus groups and interviews with parents, youth and key community leaders designed to gather ideas and enlist support in the campaign to keep our youth safe and alco-hol free.

Communities That Care (CTC) is a risk-focused approach to reducing adolescent problem behaviors through community mobilization and planning. Local citizens and community leaders work together to identify the risk factors that increase the likelihood of problem behaviors developing, and enhance the protective factors that can shield youngsters from problems. The risk and protective factors are used to implement a comprehensive plan to step ahead of the problems with far-reaching and long-lasting solutions. For more information, visit our website at www.NorristownCTC.org.

Don’t Smoke Your Future By Angela S. Bell, Esquire, Community Mobilizer

In September 2010, a new social marketing cam-paign focusing on debunking the myths of mari-juana will debut in the greater Norristown area.

The purpose of the campaign is to remind com-munities that marijuana is illegal and harmful in spite of the erroneous perceptions that come from the media (medical use of marijuana), family, and community (not a gateway drug).

With this campaign, Norristown Area CTC hopes to encourage adolescents to think about

the long-term consequences of using drugs such as marijuana. In addition to research-based programmatic re-sponses to risk factors such as the availability of drugs and firearms, Norristown Area CTC has also implemented various environmental strategies to help prevent and reduce adolescent problem be-havior.

Communities That Care 3125 Ridge Pike

Norristown, PA 19403 610-630-2111 ext. 236

abell@fsmontco.org

K E E P I N G Y O U T H S A F E & D R U G F R E E