A stigma could be interfering with the work of Communities That Care.

At the Dec. 4 annual meeting of CTC, Lorie Hackett, assistant superintendent at the Whitehall-Coplay School District, said only about 15 parents took advantage of parenting classes offered by the district recently.

"Not a lot of parents take advantage of [parenting classes] and that's one of our biggest challenges," she said. "There seems to be a stigma against coming in to school for programs, information, training."

Hackett was one of three people who spoke at the meeting, presenting information on the accomplishments, frustrations and goals of the CTC, now entering its third year. CTC is an "operating system that takes communities through a well-defined and structured process to prevent adolescent problem behaviors and promote positive youth development," says CTC literature.

The CTC launched its efforts by administering the Pennsylvania Youth Survey to students in sixth, eighth, 10th and 12th grades. The survey asked students about their experiences and attitudes toward school, family and the community.

That data helped the group identify priorities on which to focus their efforts.

One of these was parental attitudes favorable toward anti-social behavior.

Specifically, this means parents are bending the rules. They know underage drinking is wrong but they're hosting parties and think that by taking everyone's car keys, it's OK.

"Kids have told us. Parents have told us, 'yeah, I know it's wrong. But keep it quiet.' We want to change that," said CTC Coordinator Denise Continenza, another speaker.

According to the survey data, these parental attitudes have put 42 percent of the school district's 4,200 children at risk. This is above the county average of 39 percent, the state average of 40 percent and the national average of 34 percent, Continenza said.

The survey will be administered again in 2015 and CTC organizers hope this rate will not rise.

"When PAYS is administered next year and we get that data back, we don't want to see anything higher than 43 percent," Continenza said.

For 2017, they hope to see the rate drop to 38 percent and in 2019, they hope to see it drop to 33 percent.

CTC has identified other related priorities. For example, 43 percent of students surveyed believe drug use is a low-risk activity. This compares to 39 percent county wide and 42 percent in both the state and nation.

Another 25 percent of students indicated they had used alcohol over the past 30 days, compared to 18 percent in the county, 22 percent state wide and 23 percent nationally.

Continenza said she was concerned by the high number of middle school students reporting having used alcohol in the past 30 days.

"Maybe kids are starting younger … so we better address it now," she said.

Hackett said the school district is taking numerous steps to try to reduce the number of students who are at risk. For one thing, all staff, including bus drivers and custodians, have received training on how to talk to children about what they see in school.

Another initiative is STEP (Systematic Training for Effective Parenting) which is intended to reach out to parents and assist them not only with their attitudes toward alcohol use but with all other aspects of parenting.

Topics for the sessions included handling misbehavior, effective discipline and communicating with children, among others. The district provided snacks and child care in an effort to entice people to attend.

In order to reach out to parents, CTC organizers are considering running parental training programs through churches and sports teams rather than at the schools.

"It's not that easy for people raising children to ask for help," Continenza said.