School Drug Prevention Program May Be Forced to Close;
Teacher Union Moves to Save SAPIS
By Robert Waddell, May 8, 2009
 Ever since Jasmine Perez was a little girl she dreamed of becoming a teacher because her mother and aunt are both teachers and when she was 15, Perez got early experience working as a summer camp counselor. Now, in her early 30s, Perez feels she is in a rewarding and uplifting profession where she can “give back.”
“People crave connection and as a teacher that need can be fulfilled,” said Perez who is the Substance Abuse Prevention and Intervention Specialist and Counselor, SAPIS, to grades K-5 at P.S. 5 in New York City. “In the long run, teaching provides stability and security with room for growth, always,” she said.
However, these days not even education escapes the financial woes of the troubled economy. Perez faces this challenge: in spite of her dedication to her students she might loose her job. The SAPIS program, which is funded by New York State may be phased out of existence. This means that thousands of New York City high school students won’t receive vital information, resources and counseling, which would prevent them from ever starting to take drugs. The nearly 400 students at P.S. 5, where Perez works, would be left without the necessary prevention tools to stop or never start taking drugs, said Perez.
“They could take this away at any moment,” said Perez, “I’ve learned to cope but no one should ever learn how to cope with loosing their job.”
The cuts to the drug prevention program effects students all over the city, which was why Local 372’s President Valerie Montgomery-Costa wrote an open letter to her rank and file after the worker’s union sponsored an extensive letter writing campaign to save the SAPIS program from State cuts.
“Every time one of us becomes vulnerable, we all become vulnerable,” wrote Montgomery-Costa. “No one knows where the next proposed cuts will fall. That is why we must unite, as we did, to send over 5,000 letters to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Speaker Malcolm Smith protesting the cuts to a program that has been providing drug prevention services to New York City schoolchildren for over 30 years.” Montgomery-Costa went on to say that “…cutting SAPIS workers would diminish the quality of school life and seriously compromise our school’s first line of defense against alcohol, tobacco, substance abuse, drug-related violence, dropping out, teenage pregnancy, and HIV/AIDS.”
According to Department of Education spokesperson, Ann Forte, the DOE has been working closely with the State legislature since March to restore funding to the SAPIS program. Forte said that there have been no new updates however eliminating any drug prevention program would greatly affect New York City’s school children.
At a recent rally protesting the $10 million cuts to SAPIS, State Sen. Frank Padavan, the author of the law that created SAPIS said, “Given what families are facing today, I can’t think of another time when SAPIS were more necessary. SAPIS workers have proved how effective they are. I don’t want to see all these years of success eroded before our eyes.”
The State has proposed moving the effective drug prevention program from schools into the hands of community based organizations.
In spite of the cuts to the SAPIS program, Perez still wants to set a positive example for her students. She still enjoys coming to school, working with students and yet she wonders if today will be her last day at work.
Besides a looming lay-off that her union Local 372 has fought to prevent, Perez continues to be committed to work hard at a job she loves and a profession she has felt emotionally drawn to since childhood. Her attitude has been unwavering and without any regret for the reasons she went into teaching.
More importantly, Perez said that her students would be the ones hurt. Since they will be denied the much needed prevention and intervention drug services that Perez and her fellow SAIPS counselors provide, helping students combat the drug problem in their lives.
“This means a larger load of work for social workers at my school, and no one will be going into the classroom to talk to students about drug prevention,” said Perez, “I’m sad and angry. I’ve served those students to the best of my abilities.”
Perez wondered why Wall Street, large corporations, even the MTA are financially bailed out by the government but her state funded drug prevention program, and education across the board, face massive financial cuts and lay offs. She’s exhausted at thinking about why the State and Federal governments have continued to ignore and sacrifice education as a priority, opting instead for the betterment of American corporations and big businesses. Even Mayor Bloomberg’s bid for a third term uses education and mayoral control as a political football.
“Some people come in thinking teachers get summers and holidays off but they don’t see the rewards of being with the children,” said Perez, “In all reality you’re there for the children as a means of support, when you do that you know you’re doing a good job.
“I feel bad for the kids, our school is right there on Dyckman Street, drugs are all around them.”
This story was developed through the Education Beat Writing Fellowship at the New York Community Alliance. |
