The latest Healthy Kids Survey in California is for 2017 through 2019 and doesn’t reflect student attitudes since the onset of the pandemic. Among the most positive findings, it shows alcohol use and cigarette smoking continue a decade-long decline. In Nevada County, current alcohol or drug use is 36-percent for eleventh graders, 23-percent for ninth graders, and 8-percent for seventh graders. Only 8-percent of eleventh graders are currently smoking cigarettes, 4-percent of ninth graders, and 2-percent of seventh graders. California Department of Education spokesman, Dan Thigpen, says better funding for education campaigns has brought more students together on this issue…

But there were declines in other areas that signal additional supports are needed. Thigpen says there are increasing reports of chronic sadness or hopelessness…

Also, only 54-percent of students statewide felt safe or very safe at school, compared to 61-percent in 2015 through 2017. In Nevada County, it’s 57-percent of eleventh graders, 56-percent of ninth graders, and 62-percent of seventh graders.