WEST SPRINGFIELD — Hearing primary school pupils ask about drug abuse is “heartbreaking,” a pair of teens told the School Committee, but points to the value of the peer education program known as the Care Coalition.
“Walking into the classroom, they were so little, so small, and I wasn’t expecting this level of maturity from them,” said West Springfield High School senior Chanelle Osbourne, describing a Care Coalition trip to grade 5 and 6 classrooms to have conversations about drugs, peer pressure and other risk factors for youth. It was “a little bit sad to see that they needed this level of prevention work.”
Care Coalition, funded by federal Drug-Free Communities grants, is a group of high schoolers that shares data and counseling with fellow students. Osbourne was one of two peer educators who spoke to the School Committee at its Oct. 8 meeting. Crystal Jones, also a high school senior, said she had expected the grade 5 and 6 students to ask off-topic questions, and found it “a little heartbreaking, a little sad to learn that they did know what we were talking about.”
Both high schoolers said they can see a connection between the work they do and their future careers.
“I have been a peer educator for three years now,” said Osbourne. “When I got started, it wasn’t necessarily my passion. But then I really got into it, and I realized the importance of it. It’s work like this that I hope to keep doing for the rest of my life.”
Jones said she joined the team “because Chanelle Osbourne is my best friend,” but that speaking with younger children is also good preparation for the job she wants as an adult, being a teacher. She also said it’s important for members of the wider community “to realize the struggles our youth go through.”
The two Care Coalition members spoke to the School Committee to get the board’s permission to attend a youth leadership conference in Washington, D.C. Jones, Osbourne and fellow high school senior Quinlan Kearney will represent West Springfield.
Care Coalition members have attended this conference in previous years, but this would be the first time for all three in this year’s delegation, according to Care Coalition adult adviser Ananda Lenox.
Lenox said youth leaders who attend the conference receive training in peer education and strategies to help their peers end self-destructive behaviors, as well as networking with other youth leaders from across the country, and meeting with the region’s federal legislators. She said conference attendees from West Springfield often get a chance to meet U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Cambridge) and Edward Markey (D-Malden), and U.S. Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield), or at least members of their staffs.
Electronics recycling event
To raise money to send Kearney, Jones and Osbourne to Washington, the Care Coalition will host an electronics recycling event 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, at West Springfield High School, 425 Piper Rd. Supporters can drop off their electronic devices and small appliances for disposal, in exchange for a suggested donation.
Accepted items include computers, flatscreen monitors, laptops, video game systems, cellphones, VCRs, printers, wires, cables, batteries, lamps, small kitchen appliances and cameras. The suggested donations range from $5 to $20, based on the item. Hard drives brought for recycling can be destroyed at the event.
Items that will not be accepted include CRT monitors, televisions, hazardous waste, large appliances, propane tanks, paint and construction materials. The electronics recycling drive is cosponsored by the Boys & Girls Club of West Springfield, Rotary Club of West Springfield and Haselkorn Electronics. For more information, email ccoalition@wsps.org.
Cellphone surveys split
Also at the Oct. 8 meeting of the School Committee, West Springfield Middle School Principal Peter Gillen shared the results of three surveys he had conducted on whether his school should join the high school in adopting the Yondr pouch system. Starting this school year, West Springfield High School students have been required to lock away their cellphones in a magnetically sealed pouch during the school day. They retain custody of the device, but can’t use it while it is in the pouch.
“The results of the staff survey were overwhelming: ‘Do the pouches.’ The results of the student survey were overwhelming: ‘Don’t touch our phones,’” he said.
Gillen said he expected the results of those two surveys, but was a little surprised at what the third survey, which involved just under 300 parents, said. The majority of that group opposed cellphone pouches.
He said the comments he got from opponents of pouches generally fell into two categories. Some parents were worried that having cellphones locked away would make it harder for them to contact their child in the event of an emergency. Gillen had mentioned this in a Sept. 24 presentation to the School Committee, where he noted that all the classrooms have landline telephones and many staff carry walkie-talkies that can connect directly to first responders.
Another line of opposition he described as “just enforce the policy.” He said the school’s policy on cellphones “has always been ‘off and away.’” He said many parents said they support that policy, and think teachers and administrators can implement it without the expense of buying pouches and the specialized equipment to lock and unlock them. The Yondr pouch system at the high school, which serves four grades, cost more than $46,000 to start. The middle school serves three grades.
Gillen noted that the parent survey was not a comprehensive picture of all parents, and discussion of cellphone pouches at the middle school is still in its early stages.
“That leads me to think that there’s still some more information to be gathered,” he said.
He had said in September that he wanted to proceed slowly and build community support, and that he couldn’t envision implementing a pouch system until at least mid-January 2025.
