ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, May 11, 1996 TAG: 9605130037
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOANNE POINDEXTER STAFF WRITER
When Staunton River High School opens its new cafeteria for lunch Monday, the Velcro wall, graffiti, video machines and casino games will be gone.
No evidence should remain from the school's first after-prom party, which starts at midnight tonight, said Sarah Phares, co-chairwoman of the after-prom committee.
Under the leadership of the PTSA, parents and teachers are transforming the cafeteria, which was completed this month, into one big game room as a gift to the juniors and seniors.
"We hope to help the kids see that they can have a real fun time without drugs or alcohol," Phares said.
Although efforts to have such a party started several years ago when she taught at the high school, "There was a really big push this year," said Phares, who teaches at Staunton River Middle School and has a daughter graduating from the high school.
Her husband, James, is the high school's principal.
Several students who had been to after-prom parties at other schools encouraged parents to take part in an alcohol-and drug-free party.
About 300 private and public schools in Virginia - 80 percent of the state's high schools - now hold such celebrations, according to Arlene Cundiff, a youth risk prevention specialist with the state Department of Education. Staunton River was one of only a handful of schools in the western part of the state to have a prom but no after-party event.
Cundiff said Virginia was the first state to implement alcohol-and drug-free celebrations on a statewide basis. Since 1987, when the the Department of Education and the Division of Motor Vehicles began to provide funds and guidelines for the celebrations, no student attending one of the parties has been involved in an after-prom alcohol-or drug-related accident, she said.
Using grants provided by the Drug Free Schools and Communities Act, the Department of Education also works with the Virginia State Police Association to sponsor an award program as incentive for schools to hold celebrations. The cash awards are used for the parties.
"We are trying to create new traditions and show students that parents are really significant folks and that [the students] can have a great time and don't have to emulate adult behavior of drinking and driving," Cundiff said.
Principal James Phares said a Staunton River student was killed in the mid-1970s in an alcohol-related accident on a prom night, and there have been a few other alcohol-related incidents that he described as "minor skirmishes."
He remembers finding alcohol bottles at the ends of tables and in the parking lot after the prom in past years; with the anti-drug and anti-alcohol emphasis, he said, "We are seeing less."
Sara Phares credits the school's Students Against Drunk Driving and Students Organized for Developing Attitudes chapters and the Drug Awareness and Resistance Education program in lower grades for the decrease in alcohol and drug use.
In addition, she said, many students are involved in athletics, and "that's a good influence. [Alcohol and drug use] is pretty much not acceptable in those groups."
Planning for the after-prom party began late last summer, and more than $5,000 has been raised. Most of the money came from donations; the 1995 senior class left $1,000. Participants will pay $5 each for an early morning of casino, carnival and video games, Karaoke, basketball, jumping onto a Velcro wall, pingpong, dancing and a chance to write graffiti that will be saved for future reunions.
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY STAFF Sarah Phares (left) and Valerieby CNBZimmerman, co-chairwomen for the after-prom party, survey the
cafeteria at Staunton River High School to decide where to start
decorating.