The Whitehall-Coplay Communities That Care group met virtually Dec. 11. The group discussed the priorities for the upcoming year.

The priority areas will remain the same as the past year, with some minor adjustments. For the most part, the group wants to keep the goal percentages the same for each priority point.

The four main priorities are a low perceived risk of drug use, parental attitudes favorable toward anti-social behavior, community opportunities and rewards for pro-social involvement and food insecurity.

Additionally, there are four focus areas for the group. These are an elevated past 30-day use of marijuana among high school seniors, an elevated past 30-day use of alcohol across grade levels, vaping in past 30 days across all grades and students feeling depressed or sad most days.

It was noted it may be difficult to maintain some of these levels due to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the food insecurity and depression numbers. Those areas were identified as needing extra attention.

Jon Irons, Communities in Schools representative for Whitehall-Coplay Middle School, shared some more information with the group about his breakdown of the Pennsylvania Youth Survey data by ethnicity. He noted the nuances of minority responses often get lost in the majority.

He noted white students were 69 percent of the respondents, with Black students at 21 percent and Puerto Rican and other Hispanic students at 15 percent.

Irons reported it is important to keep these numbers and factors in mind for future surveys, especially in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been reported the pandemic is known to hit communities of color harder than white or mostly white neighborhoods.

Much of the conversation for the CTC was regarding programming for students and how best to reach them. It was noted programming is difficult to maintain right now as a virtual option.

William Fonzone Jr., Whitehall-Coplay School Board member, asked how effective the virtual programming is. He questioned if the students are mentally “checked out” or if they are actually engaging.

Many of the group members reported they are noticing quarantine/pandemic fatigue in youths and students. They are having trouble engaging with a lot of things right now, it was noted.

Some members expressed concern about the home/school balance for students. It was reported many continue to do school work late into the night, and the virtual aspect of learning is blurring the line between school time and home time. It was noted this is often a problem for parents and their work/home balance, too.

The group said they will continue working on options for reaching students and how best to help the local youth community.