Webb urges board to keep peer program in schools

By HAROLD GWIN

gwin@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Funding for a student peer program that combats teen pregnancy and drug abuse may have expired, but Superintendent Wendy Webb said she will do all she can to keep the program running in the city schools.

The “Promoting Student Intelligence” program has been running in the Youngstown schools for the past 10 years, said Lynn Duffey, who coordinates the program.

Funding has been through a federal Safe and Drug-Free Schools grant, but that funding source ended this year, she told the school board Tuesday, urging board members to keep the program alive. The program costs some $20,000 a year.

“Our objective is to save lives,” she said, pointing out that high school students involved in the program actually teach in sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade health classes, talking about sex, abstinence, HIV and AIDS.

Information coming from the students is more effective than from adults, said Jonnelle Ballard, a city school graduate and a PSI member in 2000-03.

PSI taught students how to make good decisions overall, not just about sex, Yvonne Townsend told the school board.

The city school graduate who is now a master’s degree candidate at the University of Kentucky said it made a big impact on her life, and she has tried to use what she learned to positively impact others.

Webb said she can’t make any promises based on the district’s financial issues but said she would never recommend cutting the PSI program.

She said she would look at re-allocating resources, if necessary, to keep it going.