Hot Springs School Board discuss drug use and student rewards

HOT SPRINGS – During their February meeting, the Hot Springs board of directors discussed the nature of the school’s rewards program for good behavior as well as the prevalence of drugs among the students.

Jennifer McPherson, the Sanders County Prevention Specialist for the Flathead Valley Chemical Dependency Clinic, spoke to the school board about her program and what it does to help kids. She noted how the county was seeing a rise in drug-related crime and the impact this was having on the schools.

“It is the goal of Flathead Valley Chemical Dependency Clinic to plan and coordinate and facilitate drug and other alcohol prevention activities,” she said.

They have a survey that helps start the process of finding where help is needed. Students in middle and high school take the anonymous survey to gauge their history and exposure to substance abuse as well as anti-social behaviors; the end goal is for it to highlight the statistics, as well as warning signs, of use and abuse in the community and where help can start.

McPherson stressed that the statistics are specific to Sanders County and no other area’s information will influence the numbers.

“We’re not trying to come up with things that we need to target for something that’s going on in Billings or Helena,” she said. “This is Sanders County information for Sanders County action.”

The clinic also does workshops. The classes help educate kids on having an escape route out of their homes and how to do stop, drop and roll, among other projects. One of their big goals is to work with the community to find the sources of the problem, what factors make it worse and how to keep it from expanding.

McPherson hopes people in Hot Springs, as well as in communities across the county, will help the clinic and reach out to them so things can get started in helping the problems in the area.

Superintendent Mike Perry also told the board about an anonymous letter he received regarding the Hot Bucks student reward system. He recalled the letter was from a parent complaining that the system favors certain students rather than rewarding kids who are nice to their peers and show good behavior. According to Perry, though, the letter writer had it backward and the Hot Bucks do go to students who show good behavior, rather than their acheivements.

“It’s based on students practicing good behavior,” he said. “It has nothing to do with grades.”

The Hot Bucks are part of the Student of the Month and Student of the Quarter program. Students who show good behavior get a special commendation written up, which is placed in a jar in the office; names are drawn from it once a week and the student gets to pick a reward.

“The idea is, the more you reward positive behavior, it brings everyone up,” said Perry. “The force of that positive behavior continues that.”

At the end of each month, all the weekly winners are put together and drawn from. The name drawn is named student of the month.

Perry said he wished the letter writer had come in to address the issue, rather thank sending an anonymous letter. He said this would allow him a chance to explain the situation to them personally.

Perry further asks that anyone with questions about the program contact him at the school.

In his role as the athletics director, Perry presented information about wrestling. The trustees needed to renew the Plains-Hot Springs wrestling co-op. The motion was unanimously approved after they discussed the benefits of the co-op and how the team performed with it in place.