Speeches
Let’s Ask the Students
Data on Youth Risk Behaviors Will Help Prevention

Statement by: Kenton Pattie

On behalf of Fairfax Partnership for Youth Fairfax County Council of PTAs

Before the
Virginia State Board of Education
9 AM July 23, 1998
General Assembly B
Richmond VA


Let’s Ask the Students
Data on Youth Risk Behaviors
Will Help Prevention

President Kirk T. Schroder and Members of the Board.

I am Kenton Pattie, Vice President of the Fairfax Partnership for Youth and
Health, Parenting and Safety Chair for the Fairfax County Council of PTAs.

This year the Boards of both organizations passed resolutions in support of a youth risk behavior survey.

Fairfax Partnership for Youth
The Partnership for Youth was formed, with the help of the Fairfax Board of Supervisors and the School Board, to focus on the alarming rise in youth violence, gangs, and negative youth behaviors.  The Partnership is represented by its President Tricia Hutcherson on Attorney General Mark Earley’s Task Force on Gangs and Youth Violence.  Partnership Secretary and Advocacy Chairman Frank Blechman is also on the Task Force.
Our focus is on encouraging more collaboration and on closing gaps.  There is clearly a serious and substantial gap in our information on what youth are doing.  With most adults working outside the home today, we know less and less about what happens in real life “home alone.”
The two dozen Community Coalitions in Fairfax County urged us January 8, 1998 to seek more data they could use to focus their activities and measure success.  These coalitions include business leaders, concerned citizens, non- profits as well as parents and youth.  At this time the only data available is on school incidents, expulsions, suspensions, arrests, convictions and detention.  There is no data on the activities, choices, and behavior that leads to these statistics.

 
Fairfax County Council of PTAs
The County Council has over 80,000 dues paying members in 180 schools and is one of the largest PTA Councils in the nation. Early this year, the County Council urged adoption of the legislation HJ Resolution 114 and we appreciate the leadership of the General Assembly in requesting the Department of Education to conduct a youth risk behavior survey.

Fairfax School Health Advisory Committee
The 1997-1998 school year report of the Fairfax School Health Advisory Committee, to be presented to the Fairfax School Board this fall, makes “Youth Risk Behavior Survey” one of its top priorities.  The report states “SHAC recommends that the board urge use of a survey that has the ability to compare to national norms, and has established protocols to ensure anonymity and confidentiality.  We feel that as the largest school division in the state, our participation is critical to the validity of the state’s data.”

National PTA
Meanwhile, on June 22, 1998 President Lois Jean White of the National PTA issued a letter of support stating: 
“The surveys are important to National PTA’s Comprehensive School Health Program and the information produced by the surveys is critical to understanding the health status and needs of our youth.  The results of the surveys also assist national, state and local education agencies to more effectively plan and implement school health programs. .  .we are pleased to continue our support and cooperation with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention on the 1999 Youth Risk Behavior Surveys.”
Other organizations supporting the CDC survey include the National School Boards Association, the American Medical Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers, the National Catholic Educational Association, and the American Association of School Administrators.

 
Virginia Commission on Youth
On June 13, the Washington Post quoted Nancy Ross, Director of the Virginia Commission on Youth, as saying “We just don’t know what kids are doing.   They say kids are doing more drugs, but there is no data to tell you that stuff.” The survey called for in HJ Resolution 114 can provide the data we all need, parents and professionals, educators and legislators, to invest our time and resources where the prevention is needed the most.

 
What Survey Shall We Use and When?
The question before you is no longer “Should we?” but “What survey shall we use and when?”

We commend President Schroder for your statement to the Richmond Times- Dispatch in which you said “the department wants to devise a survey that will collect information about children’s habits without being intrusive and suggestive.  We don’t want a survey that is not reliable, or that may not be taken seriously by children at that age level.”

You have obviously given this matter serious thought and are moving towards giving practical and reasonable guidance to the Department of Education staff who are working on fulfilling the direction of HJ Resolution 114.

Urgency and Practicality
Answering the question “When?” can help as you give direction to the state staff.
It is urgent that we answer this question.  Each organization supporting a survey has recommended that the survey be instituted quickly.  Many organizations have supported such a survey each year, knowing the problems are mounting, but only to be told “No.”  We face a six year gap in information since the last survey and each year means a wider gap.  The pathway to suspension and expulsion began years ago.  The behaviors that culminate in arrest and conviction are showing up in elementary school and middle school. We need a tight, up-close look at the behaviors that are leading to headlines in our local newspapers and news broadcasts.

Conducting such a survey in the 1998-1999 school year would be difficult to schedule unless we have a survey ready by the opening of school this September.  The principals have asked for plenty of lead time as they will have the challenge of scheduling, obtaining parental consent, and explaining the need for the survey among parents, teachers, and students.

If the Board instructs the staff to come back at the end of 1999, no survey could probably be conducted until the 2000-2001 school year.
By then, the gap will have widened to almost an entire decade.  Violence will rise, more weapons will show up, shootings and knifings will rise and dozens of other risk behaviors will ebb and flow.

Speaking for the volunteers throughout Virginia who are anxious, worried and perplexed by the current alarming trends, we want a survey quickly.  We need the data to direct our efforts.  We need the data to apply for grants and financial contributions.  We need the data to measure how well our programs of prevention and intervention are working.  We cannot support a delay until 2000-2001.

Therefore, we appeal to the Board to establish an early deadline for the staff to meet, to articulate the Board’s sense of urgency.  We urge you to avoid the pitfall of letting the project consume such time as is available.

Yes, it is true in many Virginia communities, we are moving forward with prevention activities.  Why?  Because the fabric of our society is threatened. No generation of parents before us had to live with shooting in the schools, gangs, drugs and alcohol and dozens of other risk behaviors.  As long as the public believes schools -- public and private -- are less safe today than they were ten years ago, we must act.
But resources are scarce.  Volunteers are hard to find in a society which is united by two-earner families.  We must target, focus, and drive hard when the threat is greatest and where we can win positive results.

We urgently need the data.  And as we build more prevention, we need to measure our results.  Waiting for the local youth crime statistics is frustrating and undesirable.  We want to know before a youth becomes a statistic.  We can help what we know; but we can’t help what we don’t know.

But, Don’t We Already Know What the Youth Are Doing?
I’ve heard it said:  “We already know what they are doing  -- drugs, alcohol, weapons -- so what more do you need to know?”

The answer is:  we see the outcomes, but we don’t know the build-up of unwise behaviors that proceed the police statistics.  Professionals tell us that by the time a youth is kicked out of school, put on the streets, or convicted, there is a pattern of truancy, incidents at school, drugs, alcohol, or probation.

Yes, upon expulsion, we know what they did.  But, what was the year of first use?  What was the frequency that led to the final act?  No one knows this information without survey data.

Today, if we continue to postpone the compilation of data, we are simply postponing the appropriate preventive action, or we are taking action without all the facts.  With so few dollars available for this area, we need to focus our prevention investments and we need to let the data from a youth risk behavior survey guide our investments.
The results from surveys taken in many different communities shows many variations.  One community’s priority is not the priority in another community.  For example, using data from the Center for Disease Control’s survey Alabama established “a state-wide Task Force on Violence,” West Virginia increased its support for comprehensive school health programs, Maine adopted a skill-based health education curricular in grade 8, etc. The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report  of September 27, 1996 stated “Considerable variation occurs from state to state and from city to city for some priority health-risk behaviors.  For example, among the state surveys, a fivefold variation or greater was identified for not using safety belts, drinking and driving, not attending school because of concerns about safety, frequent cigarette use, smokeless-tobacco use, marijuana use, use of other illegal drugs, and initiation of sexual activity and cocaine use before 13 years of age.  Among the local surveys, a similar level of variation was found. . .”

For example, the age at which youth begin use of illegal substances, join gangs and begin sexual intercourse is going down.  More girls are involved at earlier ages.  

These changes can be monitored through a survey.

We can expect these same variations in Virginia.  They are detectable and measurable.  We can invest our time and money based on the detected and measurable facts; or we can guess, without indicators and measurement of success.  We urge this Board to support rapid institution of this survey in Virginia so we can provide the public with the facts, to measure the problems we are about to receive, and to assure the public we will be measured in the prevention work we do by the improvements detected by the survey.

Why Take School Time for A Public Health Matter?
Schools enjoy one monopoly:  they have all the children and youth.  Therefore, they are the natural place for public health surveys.  While there may be some other way, electronic perhaps, to obtain this data, no system currently available is as practical as a student survey.  Fortunately, we do not need an all-student survey as sampling can suffice.  So, only a relatively small portion of students need take the survey in each school.  Since it would be up to the schools as to when to administer the survey, it is not necessarily a given that the survey would detract from anyone’s academic time in school.

Which Survey Shall Virginia Use?
One problem with Virginia writing its own survey is the time this will take. Another problem:  writing a Virginia-only survey gives us no opportunity to compare ourselves with other similar communities in other states.  Communities similar to Fairfax, for example, will be located in other states if we wish to compare like populations, economic base, mobility of population, etc.

Further, various Virginia communities have already been conducting youth risk surveys using existing instruments.  If Virginia writes its own, these communities will be unable to use the new survey to compare results with their previous survey.

There are several published and mature surveys available, with national data for comparison.  The mere availability of such published surveys should discourage the writing of a Virginia-only survey.

Some published surveys allow the addition of local-only questions.  All are ready to be used.  Their employment in Virginia would enable us to deal with the urgency issue -- waiting is a matter of life and death for some youth. Writing a Virginia-only survey will consume many, many months and the time and effort of this Board, staff, and people from around the state.  It is unlikely that this expenditure of time and effort would produce a substantially better survey.

The fact that the CDC survey is the giant in its field should give the Board pause before proceeding with a Virginia-only drafting process.  Reasons why Virginia does not proceed with the CDC survey need to be powerful and responsible since there are so many sound reasons why we should go with the dominant survey of this type.

Using one of the published surveys, such as the CDC survey, would save time. In this instance, time involves the life and future of a rising number of youth.  Using the CDC survey would give Virginia communities the greatest ability to compare themselves with Virginia and non-Virginia communities like theirs.

Several Virginia communities will suffer if the Board directs the staff to write its own survey:  these communities have already been conducting surveys. The City of Waynesboro and the County of Loudoun are examples of those who have been using published surveys and would not be able to compare their previous results with results from the new Virginia-only survey.

Conclusion
We urge this Board to move swiftly with a plan to institute the survey rapidly.  We know of no reason to delay.  There is much urgency for the results.  Like other communities which received small amounts of funding to work on violence issues under the Allen Administration, we have limited resources but rising demands from the citizens to get results fast.  We need all the help we can get and a student survey is one.

We are willing to cooperate with other communities in Virginia, working through Virginia and the State Board of Education if you can proceed swiftly with the strongest possible instrument that will help us with the data and the comparisons we need to fashion the right preventive responses.

The Board has the benefit of examining published national instruments such as the CDC survey.  There must be a serious and compelling reason why Virginia would need to re-invent the wheel.  Of course, there would never be unanimous agreement on the right questions to ask.  But, if one published survey comes close to meeting the needs of most communities, the Board should see this as a reason to discourage writing a new survey.

Given the shortage of time available in school to conduct tests and surveys, it would be best to have a single comprehensive survey than entertain the idea of several partial surveys.

Speaking as a volunteer who urgently needs the data from this survey to fulfill my responsibilities locally, and as Vice President of an organization which sees a huge loss due to the six-year gap in data, I urge you to respond now to the pressing need for this survey.  Don’t adopt any procedure which results in delay.  You need not take all the time allotted, but you can provide an exemplary public service by saying:  this survey is long overdue and let’s get on with it. The CDC survey, an example of a 10 year old comprehensive published survey, seeks answers to questions about areas such as:

Safety belt use
motorcycle helmet use
bicycle helmet use
riding with a driver who had been drinking alcohol
driving after drinking alcohol
carrying a weapon
engaging in a fight
school related violence
suicide and suicide attempts
cigarette use
smokeless tobacco use
access to cigarettes
alcohol use
marijuana use
cocaine use
steroid use
injecting drug use
other illegal drug use
inhalant use
tobacco, alcohol and other drug use on school property
sexual intercourse
condom use
birth control pill use
alcohol and drug use with sexual intercourse
pregnancy
HIV education
consumption of fruits and vegetables
consumption of food with high fat content
perceived overweight
attempted weight loss
physical activity
stretching
strengthening exercises
team sports

Using the option of adding local questions, would add questions related to the threat of violence and gang activity in school to this or any other survey.