Parent Substance Abuse Awareness Program

Take the online assessment now

Dear GCISD Parent,

In a continuing effort to provide resources for parents, the GCISD is making available to families access to an online drug education program called the Parent Substance Abuse Awareness Seminar. This course contains a brief, practical, but very important curriculum regarding drugs and drug use among teens in our society and serves as a valuable resource available to parents at any time.

This program, sponsored by the Texas Rangers and local businesses, is being adopted by many school districts in the Metroplex. GCISD is incorporating this program into its random drug testing policy in an effort to further expand resources available to parents on the important issue of illicit substance abuse. For a student to be able to compete or perform in extracurricular activities in GCISD, it will be a requirement that parents log into this site and complete the short assessment found there.

Parents will need to complete the curriculum only once every four years to cover all of their children in all extracurricular activities. This should be done by September 25, 2006. If a student registers for an extracurricular activity during the school year, the parent must complete the program within six weeks after the student registers. While this assessment will only take 10-15 minutes of your time, it offers valuable information that you can refer back to at any time.

This online education program is unique in that it not only provides information about illicit substances, but also provides insight into how and where young people get access to drugs, alcohol and drug paraphernalia. As a parent, you might be surprised to find out that drug paraphernalia can be bought in disguised forms in novelty stores at most shopping malls. This information will show you pictures of the items that are popular with some of our young people, and discuss behaviors that may indicate possible substance abuse.

The link to the online drug education program is available now through Sept. 25. After reading through the information, you must take the short assessment and submit it in your name in order for your student to compete or perform in extracurricular activities. There is no requirement to pass the assessment; this is a parent self-evaluation tool only.

For parents who may not have access to a computer or would prefer a hard copy, take-home packets will be available at all middle and high school campuses. There will be a form that needs to be signed to verify that the packet has been received. The packet will be available in both English and Spanish.

We know your time is valuable and we appreciate your willingness to participate in this very important awareness program. The curriculum is frequently updated, so please feel free to visit this site periodically to enhance your awareness of substance abuse in the world of our teenagers. Together, we can work to enhance our knowledge so that we can provide students with the information they need to make good, healthy choices.

Sincerely,

Steven Trachier
GCISD Executive Director – Administration

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