"I don't quite understand the purpose," Southold Superintendent Chris Gallagher said this week about a second survey planned by CTC director Susan Toman. "What has happened since?" he asked. If a major program had been undertaken, it would make sense now to assess its effectiveness in reducing the number of students experimenting with alcohol and drugs, he said. But there has been "nothing substantive" undertaken since the original survey, he said, adding that he would expect the results of a new survey to be very similar to those in 2006 that showed 92.4 percent of area high school seniors drinking and 46 percent having used drugs. The survey questioned 646 students in grades six, eight, 10 and 12 in schools throughout the North Fork and compared local results with national statistics. In most categories, Southold Town students were at or just below national averages, Ms. Toman said at the time. Now, to maintain her eligibility for grant funding to continue her Communities That Care program, she needs another survey, she said.

Ms. Toman, a psychotherapist and certified abuse counselor, has run the Lions Club's Quest-based substance abuse program out of both her Feather Hill and home offices for the past three years.

While she is as dedicated and determined as ever to keep the program alive, she says, none of the area schools that participated in the survey have adopted the CTC program, and all have only limited programs that stress abstinence from alcohol and drug use.

Ms. Toman tried to enlist local school boards to support the Lions Quest program she favors and for which she is a certified substance abuse counselor. But all resisted, she says, maintaining they would offer a program in their academic schedules only if it were taught by their own faculty members.

Still, Ms. Toman has continued her own efforts through her private counseling center in the Feather Hill shopping center and through monthly dances and other activities aimed at giving students a dose of advice about the dangers of alcohol and drug use.

"They're showing up at the monthly dances and there may or may not be differences in a follow up study," she said. While she described area educators as "reluctant at first," she said they have cooperated, although no evidence suggests any district has gone beyond allowing students to participate in the 2006 survey.

Instead, North Fork educators are taking a close look at an alternative anti-drug and alcohol program, LINCS, the Long Island Network of Community Services nonprofit that takes an approach similar to CTC's -- bringing together resources from schools, churches and synagogues, parents, the business community and various social service programs to address the wider problem. At the end of February, North Fork educators met with LINCS organizers trying to create a greater presence here, Greenport Superintendent Charles Kozora said.

Dr. Kozora wants to further explore the possibilities of cooperating with LINCS, he said, although he won't close the door on the possibility of cooperating with another CTC survey. In the meantime, he's continuing to offer the DARE program -- Drug Abuse Resistance Education -- to sixth graders, and has incorporated some substance-abuse education components in the seventh and ninth grade health class curriculum. Greenport has a part-time social worker who helps with substance abuse education, but that's only a part of her job, Dr. Kozora said.

"I've distanced myself from Mrs. Toman," Mattituck-Cutchogue Superintendent James McKenna said. Instead, his district has worked with student assistance counselor Andrea Nydegger, who comes to the district through Eastern Suffolk BOCES, he said.

"The kids have to buy in and believe in the presenters," Mr. McKenna said. "Andrea has a good profile with high needs kids. You need the right leaders," he said, and not always the leaders you and I would think of."

In Southold, Dr. Gallagher said, budget restrictions forced the district to curtail the substance abuse program offered by Dr. Peter Suskey. Certified as both a substance abuse counselor and an English teacher, he was able to direct his priorities toward teaching English but still maintain some focus on substance abuse issues, the superintendent said.

"It was a difficult cut to make" curtailing the drug-abuse focus, he said. "But it's outside of our basic charter."

This year, Southold hired social worker Jessica Benedicto, who has also helped focus attention on substance abuse problems. However, her scope includes other issues and her schedule is full, Dr. Gallagher said. With Dr. Suskey retiring in November, Ms. Benedicto won't be able to close the gap, Dr. Gallagher said. But she will continue to identify students with substance abuse problems and refer them to various programs, he said.

Whatever programs the schools pursue, they can "only put a dent in the problem" unless all segments of the community are involved, Dr. Gallagher said.

That's a place where he and Ms. Toman agree as she continues to beat the drums for CTC. She maintains she has a list of 150 students who show up regularly for various CTC events, but educators are skeptical, reporting that students have told them that often fewer than 25 students attend CTC events.

Diane Mollica, who has been coordinating finances for CTC, maintains that more students are involved. If a single student can change his attitude about alcohol and drugs, peer pressure can help that student to change a friend, she said.

"It's empowering," she said.

Ms. Toman maintains she's "on a good roll" with the CTC program and is optimistic that she will eventually qualify for a federal grant that could bring $125,000 into the community to fight substance abuse. Although the grants are very competitive, she said, she stands a chance of getting the funding this year.

Meanwhile, County Legislator Ed Romaine has secured $1,000 for the program and other contributions have helped keep it alive.

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