Setting the grand jury straight

For the past four days, I have been drafting the required Scotts Valley Unified School District response to the grand jury report published three months ago (and referred to in William Brigham’s column “The jury is in,” Sept. 4, Press-Banner), which criticized the district for not acting responsibly to reduce drug and alcohol use among the students in our schools.
Responding has been time-consuming and frustrating, because it has required refuting the erroneous “information” and false conclusions drawn by the grand jury.
For example, J.M. Brown, in a carefully researched article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel when the grand jury report originally appeared in June, reported correctly that Scotts Valley’s rate of teen alcohol use is not “among the highest in the county” as the grand jury stated. In fact, Scotts Valley has the lowest overall incidence of reported alcohol use compared to Santa Cruz City Schools, Pajaro Valley Unified and San Lorenzo Unified — the other districts in the county with high schools.
Responding to the grand jury report also has required restating information about our data, programs and practices originally provided to the grand jury in oral or written form, but disregarded or misstated in its report.
For example, the grand jury misreports information concerning Scotts Valley’s “zero-tolerance” policy, implying that suspension and expulsion are the only means the district has for dealing with student drug use other than a “voluntary” counseling program.
In fact, suspension and expulsion data found on the CDE Safe and Healthy Kids Program Web site show clearly that the percentage of students suspended and expelled from Scotts Valley High is very low compared with other districts in Santa Cruz County. In addition, a series of counseling sessions with a youth services counselor provided by a donation from the Scotts Valley Rotary Club is mandated for all students found using alcohol or other drugs.
Other errors and misstatements in the report will be pointed out in the district’s response, due to the grand jury Oct. 1.
I certainly do not intend to minimize the problem of drug use among our teens, nor our need to act to lessen teen drug use. It is a community problem, and as part of the community, we in the school district certainly accept our responsibility to do what we can to lessen teen drug abuse.
The grand jury report is based on the 2007 California Healthy Kids Survey data — data recently in from the 2009 survey indicate that we are making progress and suggest that our programs are being successful.
I fail to understand Mr. Brigham’s need to report again on three-month-old “news” without bothering to confirm whether it is true, and I question the Press-Banner’s decision to publish for the second time the erroneous conclusions and misinformation presented in the grand jury report. To do so seems unfair to the staff in the district and our many community partners who are working hard to lessen incidents of teen drug abuse.
Instead, we would welcome support from positive partners who are willing to work with us to solve this ongoing problem.
Susan Silver has a doctorate in education and is superintendent of the Scotts Valley Unified School District.