North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (1992a) describes the community involvement at the Mt. Carmel Schools in Wabash County, Illinois:
That all changed three years ago when the school board concluded that it was not providing the quality of education its students would need for the 21st century and hired Steve Schwartz to assume the newly created position of curriculum director. This event marked the beginning of dramatic changes in Mt. Carmel's schools and, in a district with less than $3,000 per pupil in revenues, a major financial commitment by the board.
The board's commitment, however, went beyond the traditional academic arenas to students' experiences and learning outside the walls of the school. The board developed a vision of schooling that focused not only on high academic achievement, but more broadly, on helping children acquire the knowledge and skills to live physically and emotionally healthy and satisfying lives. This vision included alcohol and other drug (AOD) prevention education for students of all ages.
But the story of Mt. Carmel, Illinois, is more than a story about AOD prevention education. It's a story about the commitment of a school district and a community to improving the quality of life for its youth--the knowledge they gain, the skills they acquire, the relationships they establish with adults in the community and their peers, and their sense of responsibility for each other, as well as the community as a whole. It's also a story about how schools can assume a proactive leadership role in developing broad-based community involvement and support.
The Mt. Carmel approach to AOD prevention is based on the belief that a quality education is one that prepares students for life in all of its dimensions. As a result, prevention education information and strategies are fully integrated into the curriculum. New curricular content and instructional practices provide foundations to help students succeed academically. In addition, issues such as self-esteem, decision making, knowledge about healthy and unhealthy lifestyles and behaviors, promoting collaboration among students, and high levels of student involvement and responsibility in the learning process are as integral to the life and priorities of the schools as are history, reading, math, or other traditional subjects. Prevention information and skills also are woven into the district's extracurricular activities. For example, the high school theater group develops and performs AOD prevention skits for student and adult audiences throughout the region, and a comprehensive peer mentor program links high school to middle school students, and middle school students to primary and preschool children.
Mt. Carmel's students repeatedly mentioned the lack of after-school activities in the community. More than just knowing what to 'say no' to, students needed things to which they could 'say yes.' To respond to this need, the district, in partnership with various community organizations and businesses, has developed a wide variety of student-focused programs and projects:
Two critical features of the Mt. Carmel approach to AOD prevention are coordination and collaboration. All elements of the community are involved in a variety of different, but fully coordinated initiatives to prevent AOD use and, more importantly, to support the healthy growth and development of all of the community's young people. The network of partnerships is truly exemplary, ranging from the major and director of the chamber of commerce to the local bank, lumber yard, and Pizza Hut, among many others. the coordinator of the county's prevention services agency is also the president of the Board of Education, and the local Catholic school participates in many of the district's academic, prevention, and after-school activities.
Mt. Carmel does not view its efforts as a program or series of projects that will accomplish certain goals and then will no longer be needed. Instead, the aim is to make permanent changes in the basic goals and content of education, the role of the school in meeting both the academic and non-academic needs of students, and the community's attitudes toward, involvement with, and collective responsibility for its youth. Mt. Carmel is seeking to change the norms of what it means to grow up in their community, who and what is valued and attended to, and the connections between children, adults, and institutions in the community.
The story of Mt. Carmel illustrates that board-based, diverse, integrated, and well-coordinated strategies that begin in preschool and continue through high school graduation are essential. Furthermore, AOD prevention is really developing a permanent, community-wide system to help children grow up with:
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