School Budget and Other Related Topics on Portsmouth this Week

Portsmouth School Committee Chairman, Dave Croston, was my guest on yesterday's edition of Portsmouth this Week. He discussed the FY 2014 School Committee budget, which will be presented to the Town Council on 13 May, and several related topics, including the School requests for Capital Improvment projects, the School department's planned use of money from past school warrants, and the background and latest information on the issue raised earlier last week by Town Council member Keith Hamilton, of having the School Department pay their own debt service payments. 

Croston also discussed the results of the recent drug study completed by the Portsmouth Prevention Coalition (PPC). 1200 students in grades 9-12 were surveyed, resulting in a statistical validity of 99%. The survey yielded some rather startling results regarding the use of alcohol and marijuana among our high school students. In 12th grade, for example, 67% of those students surveyed had used alcohol within the past 30 days, while 49% had used marijuana. Even in the 9th grade, the figures were 19% for alcohol and 14% for marijuana. Perhaps more troubling were student attitudes towards the use of these drugs, with 70% of 12th grade boys indicating they were not concerned about daily use of marijuana, as an example. The School Committee will be working with the PPC to develop a plan to change student cultural perceptions of drug and alcohol use, and to raise awareness of students and families alike to the problems caused by this usage. We hope to do a dedicated program on this topic in a future edition of PTW. "We don't need another tragic accident to remind us that this is a major problem for us", said Croston afterwards. 

On a more positive note, Croston indicated that the School-Town partnership to upgrade to the Town Hall IT system, to include the availability of public WiFi in the building and the completion of the new television monitors inside the Town Council chambers, should be completed by the end of this month, if not sooner. 

Portsmouth this Week is a weekly public service television program started by Town Administrator, John Klimm. It airs on Public television (Cox channel 18) on Wednesday evenings at 7:30 PM. It can also be seen by clicking on the video box above or from links on the Portsmouth Town website www.portsmouthri.com and the Portsmouth Economic development Committee website www.portsmouthriedc.com