Whether students are drinking and smoking to have a good time and look cool or they are doing it as a means of coping with problems and stress, a survey released by the Mineola School District and District Council of PTAs confirmed that students attending the Mineola School District are consuming alcohol, using marijuana and smoking cigarettes.

Approximately a year ago, some parents were concerned with alcohol use in the Mineola School District, said District Council of PTAs President Mary Ellen Williams.

In order to get a handle on the magnitude of the problem, the District Council of PTAs along with the school district helped administer the Pride Survey, a commercially developed survey designed to help communities identify patterns of drug and alcohol use by school age children. The survey was administered to Mineola School District students in grades 4-12 last spring.

Results released last week confirmed that there are indeed students smoking cigarettes and marijuana as well as drinking alcohol. Mineola School District Assistant Superintendent for Research, Evaluation, Planning and Technology, Dr. Ari-Zev Anolic, said that by administering the survey and releasing its results, the district runs the risk of looking bad in the public's eye. However, the district, he said, would rather recognize the problem and do something about it. "We're being honest about it. We're being proactive and we're involving the community," Dr. Anolic said.

While a percentage of Mineola High School students acknowledged drinking and smoking, the problem isn't being looked at as a school district concern, but rather as a community concern.

In order to get various aspects of the community involved in the issue, the District Council of PTAs organized a community summit meeting at village hall last week, during which time possible solutions were presented to curb the amount of drinking and smoking being done in the schools.

The number of students taking the survey included: 167 in fourth grade; 210 in fifth grade; 174 in sixth grade; 167 in seventh grade; 195 in eighth grade; 168 in ninth grade; 177 in tenth grade; 188 in 11th grade and 137 in 12th grade.

The survey focused on different categories for each of the grades. Some of the results of Mineola students as well as the national average in the various categories were as follows: (Please note that the national average refers to all of the schools nationwide that had administered the Pride Survey and not necessarily all schools nationwide.)

* Cigarette Use

25.6 percent of 10th grade Mineola students said they smoked cigarettes monthly or more in the past year. The national average was 27.1 percent.

31.7 percent of 11th grade Mineola students said they smoked cigarettes monthly or more in the past year. The national average was 31.3 percent.

32.1 percent of 12th grade Mineola students said they smoked cigarettes monthly or more in the past year. The national average was 36.3 percent.

* Liquor Use

18.7 percent of ninth grade Mineola students said they drank liquor monthly or more in the past year. The national average was 20.8 percent.

21.5 percent of 10th grade Mineola students said they drank liquor monthly or more in the past year. The national average was 26.6 percent.

31.2 percent of 11th grade Mineola students said they drank liquor monthly or more in the past year. The national average was 31.0 percent.

38.0 percent of 12th grade Mineola students said they drank liquor monthly or more in the past year. The national average was 35.4 percent.

* Beer Drinking

32.1 percent of ninth grade Mineola students said they drank beer monthly or more in the past year while 61.9 percent said they drank it at some time during the past year. The national average was 23.1 percent and 48.1 percent.

30.5 percent of 10th grade Mineola students said they drank beer monthly or more in the past year while 61.6 percent said they drank it at some time during the past year. The national average was 30.2 percent and 55.0 percent.

37.4 percent of 11th grade Mineola students said they drank beer monthly or more in the past year while 64.7 percent said they drank it at some time during the past year. The national average was 34.4 percent and 58.8 percent.

40.1 percent of 12th grade Mineola students said they drank beer monthly or more in the past year while 62.7 percent said they drank it at some time during the past year. The national average was 39.1 percent and 62.8 percent.

* Marijuana Use

11.3 percent of ninth grade Mineola students said they used marijuana monthly or more in the past year while 21.4 percent said they used it at some time during the past year. The national average was 15.4 percent and 24.6 percent.

11.9 percent of 10th grade Mineola students said they used marijuana monthly or more in the past year while 22.6 percent said they used it at some time during the past year. The national average was 18.9 percent and 30.8 percent.

20.0 percent of 11th grade Mineola students said they used marijuana monthly or more in the past year while 30.3 percent said they used it at some time during the past year. The national average was 21.5 percent and 35.0 percent.

21.3 percent of 12th grade Mineola students said they used marijuana monthly or more in the past year while 36.0 percent said they used it at some time during the past year. The national average was 23.4 percent and 38.0 percent.

* Times of Use

The survey showed that most of those who drink beer and liquor as well as use marijuana do so on weekends.

80.0 percent of Mineola Middle School students say they do not drink beer while 15.7 percent say they drink beer on weekends.

44.3 percent of Mineola High School students say they do not drink beer while 50.0 percent say they drink it on weekends.

86.2 percent of Mineola Middle School students say they do not drink liquor while 9.0 say they drink it on weekends.

51.9 percent of Mineola High School students say they do not drink liquor while 42.4 percent say they drink it on weekends.

95.7 percent of Mineola Middle School students say they do not use marijuana while 2.2 percent say they use it on weekends.

75.7 percent of Mineola High School students say they do not use marijuana while 19.7 percent say they use it on weekends.

The survey showed that students are using substances at a fairly young age. Out of 167 Mineola seventh grade students to take the survey, 13.2 percent said they used cigarettes at some time during the past year. That number jumped to 28.0 for students in the eighth grade and 38.9 for students in the ninth grade.

Out of 174 Mineola sixth grade students to take the survey, 22.4 said they drank beer at some time during the past year. That number jumped to 28.3 for students in the seventh grade and 42.5 for students in the eighth grade.

In addition, 13.8 percent of Mineola sixth grade students said they drank liquor at some time during the past year. That number rose to 21.8 percent of seventh grade students and 27.8 percent of eighth grade students.

After presenting the results of the survey, the community members were divided into nine groups. Each group brainstormed to come with ideas that may curb teen smoking and drinking. Some of the ideas discussed were:

* More health education in the schools.

* A hotline available for students to share experiences.

* More parental education.

* Making law enforcement aware of the establishments that are selling alcohol and tobacco to minors.

* Guidance counselors should speak to each student at least once a year.

* Parents and students should watch educational videos together.

* Parents networking to communicate better with each other.

* Local organizations and groups coming up with suggestions to help.

* Making people aware of penalties by law for drinking and taking drugs.

* Get those parents who aren't normally involved in the schools' activities more involved.

* Parents should be more involved in their child's activities by asking the 'W' questions (Who, What, Where, etc).

* Provide students with public service information and education and post in on the school district's web site.

* Parents, students and law enforcement should share information with each other by opening the lines of communication.

* Provide more safe havens for students to go as well as provide additional recreational activities.

Perhaps the simplest but maybe an effective solution came from a community member who admitted to using cocaine at an early age. The community said that it is easy for kids to get different substances. "You're not going to get rid of the alcohol and drugs. You have to reach the kids and reach their hearts," he said, adding that a hug and reassurance would go a long way.

Mary Ellen Williams said she hopes community members will get involved in the effort to implement solutions to curb students' drinking, smoking and substance abuse. She said she hopes to form task forces from different aspects of the community. She hopes the tasks forces will hold a meeting by the end of the year in order to identify goals to work toward. "We don't want to let this drop," she said.

Anyone interested in becoming part of a task force to establish goals to curb students use of substances can call the Mineola School District's substance abuse counselor Fran Knabbe at 739-4167.