L.B. STUDENTS AFRAID OF VIOLENCE

LONG BEACH -- Alcohol, tobacco and marijuana use among Long Beach
students remains lower than a few years ago, but many students
continue to fear violence on campus, according to anonymous surveys
of students this year.

The "California Healthy Kids Survey," given every two years, asked
3,339 students about illegal substance use and school safety.

Between 2001 and 2003, students in the survey reported a noticeable
drop in illegal substance use. Those drops largely held in 2005, as
numbers remained relatively steady, said Robin Sinks, Long Beach
Unified School District health curriculum leader.

"It's still in that continuing trend," she said. "What helps is that
the drop (between 2001 and 2003) does not seem to be an anomaly. The
2005 data has kind of confirmed what we saw happening two years ago."

But many students remain afraid of being a target for violence on
school campus and have reported participating in fights.

The survey, which can be given only with parents' permission, is
required by the state for all schools receiving federal and state
anti-drug and anti-tobacco funds. Classrooms were randomly selected
to receive the survey, and many of the questions were taken from a
similar survey given nationally by the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.

The survey was administered to grades 11, 9, 7 and 5, which was added
this year.

Although dropping, rates of alcohol use remained high in the surveys.
Since 2001, the number of seventh-graders reporting that they drank
at least one full glass of alcohol in 30 days prior to the survey
fell 3 percentage points, to 15 percent in 2005.

The numbers for ninth grade during the same period fell 8 percentage
points, to 26 percent. Eleventh-grade numbers fell 10 percentage
points, to 34 percent in 2005. Seven percent of fifth-graders said
they had consumed a full glass.

The figures declined slightly from 2003 levels. With the exception of
seventh grade, the figures were below statewide numbers in 2003, the
most recent data available. (Statewide and national numbers for 2005
won't be released until next year.)

"I think alcohol has always been the tough one," said Sinks, "because
it's legal for adults to consume, it's fairly accessible in every
place from our local grocery stores to our home environment, and the
social norm against drinking is not as great as tobacco and marijuana."

The share of students this year who reported tobacco use in the past
30 days was 2 percent in fifth grade , 5 percent in seventh grade, 8
percent in ninth grade and 13 percent in eleventh grade. Since 2001,
tobacco use has declined in the ninth grade, but remained relatively
steady in 11th and seventh grades, according to the survey.

This year's numbers remain near or below statewide figures in 2003.

Marijuana use has also declined in the surveys since 2001. The number
of 11th-grade students who reported using marijuana within the past
30 days fell from 24 percent to 14 percent in 2005. Ninth-grade
numbers dropped from 21 percent to 11 percent, and seventh-grade
figures fell three percentage points, to 6 percent.

The question wasn't asked of fifth-graders.

With the exception of seventh grade, marijuana use among Long Beach
students was lower than the 2003 statewide figures.

Sinks attributes the substance-use declines to state and local
prevention efforts. She also credits four health education programs
in LBUSD whose effectiveness has been demonstrated in scientific studies.

The survey also measured students' attitudes about school safety.
Nearly one-fifth of 11th-graders in the survey reported being
involved in a physical fight within the past year. Twenty-three
percent of ninth-graders and 32 percent of seventh-graders also said
they had been in a fight.

The question was not asked of fifth-graders.

"While our physical fighting is going down over time, it's still
high," Sinks said. "Certainly, we're concerned that students are not
resolving conflicts nonviolently."

Many students are also afraid of being beaten up in school. Sixteen
percent of eleventh-graders, 24 percent of ninth-graders and 29
percent of seventh-graders said that sometime in the past year they
had feared being beaten up.

Fifth-graders also weren't asked this question.

Students in the survey also shared how safe they feel on campus.
Forty-six percent of seventh-graders responded that they felt "safe"
or "very safe" on campus. About half of ninth-and tenth-graders felt
the same way.

About 40 percent in grades 7, 9 and 11 reported in the survey that
they felt neither safe nor unsafe on campus. That
"neither-safe-unsafe" category, which Sinks interprets as meaning
that the student hasn't thought about it very much, was new to the
survey this year.

Less than 10 percent of eleventh-and ninth-grade students felt unsafe
at school, as did 13 percent of seventh-graders.

Among fifth-graders, 77 percent said they felt safe most or all of the time.

Sinks said the district includes violence prevention in its curriculum.